Givat Zeev, Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Mon 19.7.10, Afternoon
15:30, Givat Ze'ev CP: A thin but steady flow of laborers were returning from their jobs "inside" and passing through the CP which looked prostrate in the afternoon heat. We stopped several groups to ask about conditions in the morning when many workers come at the same time. Again and again people reported that the CP had improved and that they waited only ten or fifteen minutes. One man, a resident of El Gib, told us that he had a permit for all of Israel, except for Givat Ze'ev. As a result, he had to enter Israel every morning via Qalandiya (although he returned home every afternoon via G.Z.) – absurdities of the Occupation.
A middle aged man was sitting on the curb, leaning his back against a traffic sign in the burning sun. He told us there were dogs at the CP. (You can't actually see the dogs, but when I walked closer to the CP they began to bark wildly and I could hear them clearly.) Our man told us that in the mornings, the dogs bark at the children passing through the CP on their way to school, causing some of them to get very frightened. The man told us that he lives in Nebi Samuel but bears a Palestinian ID (so he is an "illegal" in his own home so to speak) and raises vegetables on several plots of land that he owns. Last week, after months of hard work, a flock of deer overran one of his plots and destroyed his whole crop of tomatoes which he had been counting on to support his family for a good few months. He tried to demand compensation from the government office responsible for settling flocks of deer in the valleys surrounding Jerusalem, but there was no one who would listen. The police refused to record his complaint. He isn't allowed to fence his plots. What can he do?
We took the man home to Nebi Samuel to see for ourselves (every word was true), and there we met a young man who told us that the authorities had come to the village one month ago and made a list of residents who were at home at the time. Two families who were not home at the time of the visit were not included in the list and are now unable to reach their homes legally. Can anyone offer advice as to how to correct the problem and get these people into the list?
17:00, Qalandiya CP: On our way to Qalandiya, we saw a BP Patrol Car stationed as a flying CP at the same spot where the Atarot CP used to be. We hope this is not a sign of its renewal.
When we reached Qalandiya we found two active passageways. Passageway 1 was for Palestinians with green (PA) ID cards – it was almost empty. Passageway 4 was for Jerusalem residents, with blue ID's, and was full of people waiting in the heavy heat. I went to see if there wasn't another active passageway and, to my surprise, discovered a female soldier sitting in the "aquarium" in Passageway 3 which was completely empty. I called to attract her attention and she opened the carousel. When I entered and stood before the window, I saw that there were two soldiers on duty, one of them a sergeant. When the sergeant finished munching on her bag of potato chips, I presented my papers and then asked her to announce over the PA system that this line was open as well. She told me to go and announce it myself. I felt a bit peculiar but I went over to the bars and shouted to the people waiting in Passageway 4 to come and stand in line. A large number immediately joined the new line. But the soldier still didn't open the gate. When I asked her what she was waiting for she said, "for you to leave." So I did and she actually did open the carousel. (I thought she was very hostile and obnoxious.)
I called headquarters and asked them to make an announcement that the passageway was open over the PA system. Later, when I got back to the northern shed, I asked the female soldier on duty in the post there to do the same, and she did so.
On my way back to the northern shed, I discovered that the biometric machnes in the passageway from Jerusalem north to Ramallah were working once again. About 50 laborers on their way home had to wait about 10 minutes by the carousel in order to leave Jerusalem and they complained about the delay in returning home after a long and tiring day's work. They told me that the machines had been working since Sunday (18/7/10) and that everyone who entered Israel from Qalandiya was now required to return home the same way. Inside the passageway, 20 laborers were all trying to reach the 3 active machines at once.
We left Qalandiya at about 17:30. On our way back to Jerusalem we passed through Lil/Jabba and Hizmeh CPs. Traffic was flowing at both.
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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Zif Junction
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Zif Junction located on the crossroads that directs towards Road 356 to Yata. Yata is the district city of the southern Hebron Mountains. Usually, this junction is open to traffic. The nearby pillbox is unmanned. But the army and police are present occasionally, sometimes setting up a checkpoint and sometimes detaining residents from the big city. Often, the Israeli policemen inspect vehicles and distribute driving reports to Palestinian vehicles. s
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