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Hizma, Qalandiya

Observers: Tamar Fleishman; Translator: Tal H.
Jul-02-2017
| Afternoon

 

Pamper, pamper, always pamper them…

With the years I have learned to grow suspicious when I’m told of the easing of conditions for Palestinians, and look for the bug when I’m told about such easing of conditions for residents of the Gaza Strip.

There is no such thing as eased conditions for residents of the Gaza Strip – this is a ‘law of nature’.

Its subject is medical patients returning to the Gaza Strip after having undergone treatment in the West Bank.

As an occupying entity, Israel is required by international law to bear the responsibility for the medical welfare of its occupied subjects and their access to health centers. It consistently violates this duty as far the residents of the Gaza Strip are concerned.

Only a select few obtain permits to exit the Gaza Strip in order to reach the West Bank for medical treatment. Obtaining such permits involves tremendous difficulties for those few individuals, and their return home is no less than a ‘via dolorosa’.

The recovering patients and their accompaniers need to reach the DCO offices at the checkpoint, apply and receive (and at times, they do not receive) a permit in order to pursue their journey home.

In recent weeks, the head of the Palestinian Authority actively cooperated with Israel in harassing two million Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip.

Until recently, patients undergoing medical treatment in the West Bank along with their accompaniers could return to the Gaza Strip at their own expense as long as the Erez Crossing was open. This is no longer so. There are new laws. Well, not laws. Regulations.

“Eased conditions” are now in store. Or as a DCO soldier told me: “It’s for their own good.”

Every day at 1 p.m., for the past three weeks, a transit van on behalf of the Palestinian Authority carries those patients returning from medical treatment from Qalandiya Checkpoint to the Erez Crossing. No more privately initiated return trips, only by organized transport.

What’s bad about this? Patients are not released from hospital according to a schedule imposed by the organized transport, and whoever cannot make it in time – will not get home that day.

This is exactly what happened to a young man, resident of the Gaza Strip, who was released from Al Najah Hospital in Nablus and arrived with his mother at the DCO office, where he was told he was too late. The transport had already left, they should show up the next morning.

I met them, the mother and son, sitting in utter despair on the benches in front of the office, their many bundles on the ground. I squeezed my way into the office, tried to persuade those in charge, asking to enable the two to proceed home at their own expense, and heard the same old tune: the transport has already left, this is a new law, only organized transport is allowed. It’s for their own good and they should return the next morning.

‘But where are they supposed to spend the night?” I asked, and received a shrug as an answer.

A certain officer added that this way the Gazans would be certain to return to Gaza, and not get off on the way. In Israel.

“Really…” I responded. “There were such cases”, he insisted, and repeated – “They should come back tomorrow morning.”

They’ll come. Sure they’ll come.

But until then, what?

**

In spite of the incursions and threats and pressures by army and police, the residents of Hizma village have not given up, not bent down. Not in addition to all of the above, economic pressure in the form of a sign has been added, scaring Jews away many of whom have maintained commercial ties with the village.

The sign (in Hebrew and Arabic, the English has been made illegible) reads as follows:

“This road leads to a Palestinian locality. Entry is dangerous for Israeli civilians/citizens”

Dangerous? For years I’ve entered the village, driven the length and breadth of it and been warmly welcomed.

Danger is not something I have ever felt there.

 

Warning sign at the entrance to Hizmaa.jpg
  • 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.

  • 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)  
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