Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya
When guns and fences and cameras and sniper positions aren’t enough to make people feel safe, more layers of protection and more resources are added. Movable flats loaded with metal bars and concrete eggs which haven’t yet hatched have been brought to the checkpoint. Maybe they’ll fill the gap.
A Palestinian man formulated the fear equation: The more afraid they (the soldiers) become, the more we fear.
The date of Ibrahim’s trial – the 15 year old boy who’s been jailed – has been set and the plea bargain has been arranged – Ibrahim will serve 6 months and pay a 3000 shekel fine.
The family hopes that when the judge sees the boy he’ll be merciful, maybe take a month off the sentence, maybe two months.
He’s a cute boy, he just bought a bike said his brother with a bitter smile.
At Jaba checkpoint police drilled male and female soldiers:
Stopping Palestinian vehicles, collecting the passengers’ documents, removing one of them, standing him off to the side, checking ID numbers, and after it’s all done releasing the victims.
– How do you decide whom to stop and check?
– I look at them, said a female soldier.
The soldiers were absent only three hours each day said a Hizmeh resident.
They blocked the main exit from the village because: There’s very good intelligence that someone from the village is planning a stabbing attack in Pisgat Ze’ev or somewhere else, said the commander; they stopped vehicles going toward Highway 60 (not everyone – they must have looked at them..), inspected the ID’s of the men and searched for knives.
They didn’t know who that someone was they were seeking, neither his address nor the location of the attack that someone was planning.
They only knew that whoever was supposed to know, did know, and that was enough for them to do what they do.
One exception was a quiet, hesitant soldier who wasn’t sure whether what he was doing was the right thing to do and wasn’t afraid of telling (me) that he’s afraid of the gun. Also of his own gun.
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 FleishmanJun-25-2025Qalandia: West Bank man injured in both legs
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