Hizma, Qalandiya
The medical patients’ transport driver and the Gazan administrator waited next to the transport vehicle for 19 persons, patients released from hospitals that morning, and their accompaniers.
When the iron gate opened and the group emerged, it was heart-rending to see the two-week old twin babies lying on a floor stepped on by thousands of feet every day.
Looking back at this photo, I realized that rather than twins they were a threesome, two baby girls and a baby boy covered over his head, and couldn’t stop thinking about the mother who doubtlessly has not yet recovered, who – on the day of her home coming with her new humans and all her luggage besides, even if she also knows how fortunate she is to be approved for delivery at the Nablus Al Najjah hospital unlike most of the Gazans whose request to exit the Gaza Strip for treatment is refused. But no doubt this day, her home-coming, is difficult in spite of the excitement, a day of tormented body and soul, and no doubt she can’t help thinking of the deteriorating sanitation and water situation and shortage of electric power in the place where she is bound with her babies.
Last to exit was an elderly woman, stepping slowly, painfully, one hand holding her abdomen for her surgery wounds have not yet healed and every move is a source of great pain.
When the transport was full with people and luggage, the administrator gave the sign and there was nothing to hold back the transport, leaving only thoughts about the place where they are headed and long to be.
At Hizma village I hear from a resident that “all’s well”. This should probably be looked into, for well in Hizma is not the well we hear elsewhere. Well, in Hizma, is very bad, just as reality under military rule is defined as routine when it is everything but routine. It is perhaps routine for outsiders’ eyes, from a zone of comfort and security. Thus too “all’s well” for a Hizma resident reminds us that reality that he is referring to is that of frequent army incursions, blocking village entrances and exits, and army vehicles patrolling the alleys.
And the soldiers inside those vehicles, what do they do? Hurl gas grenades at children.
All’s well.
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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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-8-2025Qalandiya: Emptiness in public space
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