‘Atarot, Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Mon 30.3.09, Afternoon
15:30: The line of cars at Atarot CP was extremely long. We walked along the side of the road to count the number of cars waiting in line but gave up at 130. The line was backed up at least as far as the intersection with Road No. 443. We walked back to the head of the line and reported our findings to the soldiers, but this just made them angry, "what are we supposed to do when there are alerts?" they asked. The soldiers were selectively checking the papers of passing Palestinians and also opening and checking the cargos of trucks. We clocked the time it took one "sample" car to pass at 23 minutes.
16:00 Qalandiya: When we reached Qalandiya there were 9 buses standing in the northern square. Inside the pedestrian CP two passageways were working with only a few people in each line. There was no line at all in the northern shed. At this time of day the DCO offices were closed but we saw a man waiting by the gate holding some medical documents including an invitation to Mukassad Hospital in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning. We called the DCO for him. They spoke to the man and told him to go to the Palestinian DCO in A-Ram.
16:30: We passed through the CP in Passageway No. 4. On emerging on the Jerusalem side, we found 18 men, women and children waiting. They were all upset and told us that their ID's had been confiscated in the passageway and that they had been told to wait outside for their return. They had already been waiting about 20 minutes and were very worried. We phoned the Humanitarian Hotline to demand an explanation, and we phoned Mahdi as well (even though he wasn't on duty at Qalandiya). Suddenly a female soldier accompanied by a security guard appeared and returned all the IDs, passing them through the fence. We asked her what was happening and she explained that they were performing a "routine extra check." It is probably pointless to mention that this "routine" is completely new and in all our years at Qalandiya we have never seen anything like it. A few minutes later the same soldier and her guard reappeared and entered the "command" room of Passageway No. 3. The first "fish" they caught was an old Palestinian woman who didn't speak any Hebrew and couldn't understand why they had taken her ID and not returned it. She was very upset and the soldier in the command room, losing patience with her, began to shout at her and insult her. The situation was very disturbing, especially as we couldn't do anything to help. In the end the woman emerged from the passageway followed by another ten people whose IDs had been taken for the extra routine check. At this point we could explain to them what was going on and give them an estimate of the time they would have to wait. We actually remained there long enough to see the soldier return and distribute the treasured IDs to the waiting crowd. It's hard to understand why everything has to be done with so little sensitivity and so abusively (aside from the fact that that's how occupations work, I guess). Most of the people passing through Qalandiya are just ordinary folk who are not planning any terrorist activities, so why are they treated as criminals?
By the way, Mahdi explained to us that the extra check was performed because Monday was "Land Day" for the Palestinians.
16:46: We went through to the vehicle CP once again. We could see from the distance that the line of cars at Atarot CP still reached beyond the horizon. At Qalandiya, the line of cars going to Ramallah was backed up half back to Atarot CP. Six buses were standing in the northern square, waiting to pass through the CP and pick up the passengers they had discharged.
17:20: We left Qalandiya and returned to Jerusalem via Lil and Hizmeh. There were no lines at Lil, but selective checks were being made on the transits (small passenger vans)..
'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 FleishmanNov-30-2025Qalandiya: Puddles and dirt after the rain
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