‘Atarot, Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Mon 14.12.09, Afternoon
15:30: Atarot: There was no line at the CP.
15:40: Qalandiya: We arrived at the CP and drove through to the northern parking lot. On our way we counted 11 buses waiting in the northern square. Inside the CP three passageways were operating (1, 3 and 4) with only a few people waiting in each. But the soldier on duty in the booth in the northern shed insisted on locking the carousel at the CP entrance so that during our entire shift there was always a line in the cages.
A young man was waiting to enter the DCO offices. A short time later he emerged from the offices without achieving his goal – a permit to enter Israel. We asked him what his story was and he told us that he, his father and mother and sister had all been living for over thirty years in Beit Hanina in Jerusalem. For the past 4 years, he said, they have been receiving permits that were good for three to four months after which they had to be renewed. The problem was that between expiration of one permit and the issue of a new one they usually had to wait a month during which time he, as the sole breadwinner who was working in the Palestinian Authority, had to steal across the border just in order to get home to his family. The rest of the family (mother, father and sister) would stay at home the whole time, afraid to go out.
16:00: We went through the CP and emerged in the southern square. From afar we could see that the line of cars at Atarot had lengthened considerably and now reached as far at the turn in the road. Seven buses were still waiting in the northern square to come through the CP. We saw that the bus station had once again been moved over to the western side of the square. The fellow organizing the bus services told us that this arrangement was only for 2 days until completion of some changes in the old bus station. He also complained that the soldiers were delaying the buses in the northern square and not letting them through the CP.
16:18: Back in the northern shed. The soldier on duty locks the carousel and leaves his post accompanied by a civilian guard. The flow of people on their way home from work continues so that within a very short while there is a very long line in the cage overflowing into the shed.
16:23: The soldier returns and opens the carousel and the flow of humanity resumes.
16:27: Five buses are still waiting in the northern square.
16:36: The shed is quiet – not many people are arriving. We left Qalandiya at 17:00.
17:15: On our way to Jerusalem we passed through Lil/Jabba and Hizmeh CPs. Traffic was flowing at both places.
18:15: On my way to Tel Aviv I passed through Atarot again. At this hour there was a huge traffic jam of approximately 200 vehicles standing in two and threes. The traffic jam was backed up from Atarot to beyond the traffic light on Highway 443.
'Atarot
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Atarot
Atarot was a workers' settlement destroyed during the War of Independence, where the Arab village of Qalandiya now stands, in the southwestern part of Atarot Airport, built by the British Mandate. After 1967, the Atarot industrial zone was established nearby, and until the completion of the wall from the Qalandiya checkpoint to Road 443, a checkpoint was in place. A new Jewish neighborhood is currently planned for the old airport area.
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Hizma
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Hizma
A checkpoint at the north-eastern entrance to the Jerusalem area which was annexed in 1967, at Pisgat Zeev. The passage is allowed to bearers of blue IDs only. Open 24 hours a day.
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Jaba' (Lil)
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Jaba' (Lil) In fact, the Jaba checkpoint is east of the Qalandiya checkpoint. Its declared purpose is the prevention of Israeli citizens from entering Area A. A road checkpoint for vehicles, located on Road 65, borders the southern fence of Kfar Jaba, about three kilometers east of the Qalandiya checkpoint, on the road leading to the settlement of Adam on Road 60. Archaeological excavations within the village found the remains of a cloth house from the First Temple period. The events that led to the construction of the checkpoint are precisely here: on the day of the abduction of Gilad Shalit and before the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, a 17-year-old man from one of the settlements was abducted by a Palestinian cell. His body was found several days later at the entrances to Ramallah. A military investigation revealed that his abductors had taken him along this route. The checkpoint was set up to prevent future kidnappings and to warn settlers from traveling to Ramallah and entering Area A (which is forbidden for Israelis). The checkpoint that operates around the clock. Usually only vehicles traveling in the direction of Ramallah are inspected. (November 2016): Every morning, when the settlers en masse travel to Jerusalem on Route 60 and every afternoon they return from Jerusalem on Route 60, the army initiates a traffic jam at the entrance to the Jaba checkpoint and stops the movement of Palestinians traveling toward Route 60. (February 2020): In the last two years the checkpoint has not always been manned. Sometimes the soldiers come and just stand, sometimes they come and stop and check those who enter the village, sometimes they patrol the alleys of the village, sometimes they fire stun grenades and gas and sometimes they invade houses and stop young people, say those passing through the Hazma checkpoint. (Updated February 2020)
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Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
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Click here to watch a video from Qalandiya checkpoint up to mid 2019 Three kilometers south of Ramallah, in the heart of Palestinian population. Integrates into "Jerusalem Envelope" as part of Wall that separates between northern suburbs that were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967: Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya, and the villages of Ar-Ram and Bir Nabala, also north of Jerusalem, and the city itself. Some residents of Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya have Jerusalem ID cards. A terminal operated by Israel Police has functioned since early 2006. As of August 2006, northbound pedestrians are not checked. Southbound Palestinians must carry Jerusalem IDs; holders of Palestinian Authority IDs cannot pass without special permits. Vehicular traffic from Ramallah to other West Bank areas runs to the north of Qalandiya. In February 2019, the new facility of the checkpoint was inaugurated aiming to make it like a "border crossing". The bars and barbed wire fences were replaced with walls of perforated metal panels. The check is now performed at multiple stations for face recognition and the transfer of an e-card. The rate of passage has improved and its density has generally decreased, but lack of manpower and malfunctions cause periods of stress. The development and paving of the roads has not yet been completed, the traffic of cars and pedestrians is dangerous, and t the entire vicinity of the checkpoint is filthy. In 2020 a huge pedestrian bridge was built over the vehicle crossing with severe mobility restrictions (steep stairs, long and winding route). The pedestrian access from public transport to the checkpoint from the north (Ramallah direction) is unclear, and there have been cases of people, especially people with disabilities, who accidentally reached the vehicle crossing and were shot by the soldiers at the checkpoint. In the summer of 2021, work began on a new, sunken entrance road from Qalandiya that will lead directly to Road 443 towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. At the same time, the runways of the old Atarot airport were demolished and infrastructure was prepared for a large bus terminal. (updated October 2021)
Tamar FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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