‘Atarot, Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Mon 15.12.08, Afternoon
14:30
We drove to Qalandiya via Atarot CP. At this hour traffic was
flowing.
14:45 Qalandiya
As we passed through the CP on our way to the parking lot we saw 8 to
10 buses standing in the northern square, waiting to cross to Jerusalem
and pick up their passengers. Just as Natanya approached the fence
to get a closer look at what was going on, the buses began to move,
crossing through the CP one after another.
Inside the pedestrian CP three passageways
were operating. A well-dressed man standing in Passageway 5 said
that he had been invited to a meeting with the "Shabak" (inside
the DCO offices). He was holding a printed invitation for 3PM.
15:00 We got on one of
the lines. As usual, the female soldiers checking the ID's were
shouting instructions at their "clients" over the PA system
to the point where our ears began ringing. When we reached the
window to present our ID's we politely registered a complaint and were
treated to a renewed outpour and an invitation to take over their job.
On exiting the CP we called Daniel, one
of the officers in charge, to ask him to instruct his soldiers as to
how to conduct themselves. (On our return to the CP a short while
later it appeared to us that the soldiers had lowered the volume by
several decibels.)
Traffic was flowing in the vehicle CP
and there appeared to be no special problems, ditto for the Atarot CP
observed from afar.
We asked the driver of one of the buses
why there had been such a glut in the northern square on our arrival.
He said that the soldier on duty at the entrance to the vehicle CP often
flexed his muscles against the drivers, "punishing" them as
he pleased by holding them in the square. (The dispatcher, on
the other hand, said that the buses had been detained in the square
due to heavy traffic. But we had seen that traffic was quite light
at that time of day.)
15:20 We decided to check
what was happening on the way to Bir Nabala. Traffic was very
heavy and the road (beyond the traffic light) was in terrible condition
but there were no CP's at all.
16:00 We returned to Qalandiya.
Two passageways continued to operate and lines were short. Every
few minutes a soldier announced which passageways were operating.
Suddenly a change in procedures was announced: Passageway 1 would
only serve Palestinians with a P.A. ID card (green) while Passageway
2 would serve only those holding blue ID's. The line in Passageway
2 quickly grew longer while Passageway 1 was almost empty. We
pointed this out to a soldier on duty in headquarters and he promised
to check but nothing changed.
16:45 We finished our shift.
On our way back to Jerusalem we passed through Lil CP and Hizmeh CP.
Traffic was flowing in both.
'Atarot
See all reports for this place-
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.
-
Hizma
See all reports for this place-
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.
-
Jaba' (Lil)
See all reports for this place-
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)
-
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
See all reports for this place-
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
-