Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Mon 23.11.09, Afternoon
16:00: We passed by Atarot CP on our way from Beit Hanina to Qalandiya. We saw a long line of cars that reached at least as far as the turn in the road, 400 yards. But we were hurrying to Qalandiya and didn't stop to investigate.
16:15 – Qalandiya: The three active passageways (2, 4 and 5) were completely full and there was a line of 20 people in the pen in the northern shed. We phoned CP Headquarters to draw their attention to what was going on and spoke with a female soldier, Li'at, who promised to help. Meanwhile the soldier in the post adjacent to the shed continued to let people into the CP, 5 at a time. We got on line in the shed and entered the CP. The people in the passageways reported that they had been waiting between 30 and 50 minutes, depending on whom we asked. (One woman gave up in disgust and left the CP reporting angrily that she had waited in line for an hour.) The soldiers in the passageways were working very slowly, letting the Palestinians into the checking area one by one (in Passageway 2) or two at a time (in Passageway 4). We phoned Li'at again and she said the soldiers were working slowly because the computers had crashed and they were trying to get them up again.
16:30: We were approached by a young fellow accompanying a couple from Gaza. The woman had undergone a back operation in Jordan and she and her husband were on their way home to Gaza. The woman was in terrible pain and could hardly stand up. None of them knew what to do in order to get a permit to go to Gaza. No one answered the phone in the DCO offices so once again we phoned CP Headquarters and asked to speak with the DCO representative. Li'at asked for the name and ID number of the woman and then told us that they were already preparing her permit and would give it to her as soon as it was ready. At 16:50 the DCO representative called the woman to Passageway 5 and handed her the permit, but there wasn't one for her husband. When he understood the necessity of a permit for her husband, he promised to prepare one immediately and asked the couple to wait a little longer.
16:50: The lines in the passageways got a bit shorter but there was still a line in the northern shed. At any rate, the waiting time got shorter as well.
17:15: The DCO representative handed the husband his permit and the couple left for Gaza in a cab.
17:35: We got in line in the northern shed. It took us 20 minutes to pass through the CP and out the Jerusalem side. In the vehicle CP we could see that the line at Atarot was still very long, reaching as far as the horizon. Traffic at Qalandiya was also quite heavy, especially going north towards Ramallah, but it was still flowing.
18:00: Passing back through the CP we saw that two passageways were operating.
We left to return to Jerusalem via Lil/Jabba CP, where traffic was flowing, and Hizmeh CP where cars were backed up along the road for about 300 meters.
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 FleishmanApr-12-2026Qalandiya. Abdallah at his fruit stand
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