‘Atarot, Qalandiya, Mon 22.12.08, Afternoon
olive oil I had ordered from Abed and, as long as I was there decided
to do a "quickie" shift on my own.
14:50:
I drove to Qalandiya via Atarot CP. At this early hour I didn't
expect to see much traffic but I ended up on line behind another 20
vehicles flowing slowly towards the CP where three soldiers were standing.
They weren't interfering with the traffic but the vehicles slowed as
they passed.
15:00 Qalandiya:
Two passageways were open (Nos. 1 and 5) with small lines in each.
The female soldier on duty in the outpost in the northern shed was conducting
a lively telephone conversation and was not paying much attention to
what was happening around her.
15:15: After she finished
talking on the phone, she began to apply cosmetics to her face before
a mirror (to the amazed gazes of all the people passing through the
CP). An argument developed in Passageway 1 between two young Palestinian
men and the soldier on duty who refused to allow them through.
One of the two was sent back and the other, with whom the soldier was
very angry, was ordered to present his ID card. When he failed
to comply with the order, the soldier announced over the PA system that
Passageway 1 was now closed. I phoned Mahdi (Passageway Commander
– this is the first time he has answered a phone call from me) and
told him what was going on. He said he would check into it.
After several minutes Passageway 1 suddenly re-opened for business.
15:25: By now there was
a line of 40 people backed up in the northern shed waiting to enter
the CP. The lines were moving, but only very slowly in the cold
Jerusalem afternoon.
15:35: I went out to the
parking lot. Four buses were waiting in the northern square along
with a long line of other vehicles. A small private car jumped
the line and drove to its head. The soldier regulating the flow
of traffic yelled at the driver and told him to go back to the end of
the line but the driver wouldn't or couldn't understand and just stood
there. In the end the driver won and, in order to free up the
traffic, the soldier allowed him to be the first to enter the vehicle
CP.
15:40: There are now 7 buses
waiting in the square and the traffic jam is growing. Many drivers
are honking their displeasure.
15:45: Conditions
continue as above. The flow of people and vehicles on their way
to Jerusalem continues unabated. I decided to end the shift before
it began to get dark.
.
'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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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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