Issawiya – we met an angry and hating and alienated new generation that holds Israeli blue IDs
Issawiya, Shuafat and Anata refugee camp, Qalandiya checkpoint, Al Jib checkpoint
Relative peace prevails in East Jerusalem despite all the draconian restrictions: for a very long time, most residents of the East City have not been allowed to pray at Al Aqsa (and on Fridays only residents of the Old City over 55); There are no tourists and the old town is empty of people and Christmas decorations; The possibility of working in Jerusalem for Palestinians with work permits has been eliminated; We live in fear in a public atmosphere of “violence” that prevails in the reality of the war in Gaza. We wanted to understand how all this was swallowed up in relative quiet.
At the end of the shift, it was clear to us that the industrial silence stems from fear – of the municipality, of the police, of the army, of the livelihood that will be further damaged, of the Jewish residents of the city.
As for feelings – the identification with Hamas is absolute. We heard from the adults, denials of the October 7th massacre, and children we met stated that Al Quds is only Palestinian and has no place for Jews.
7:00 Issawiya – only sad songs and news are played on the radio of Kamal, our calm and intelligent driver. Kamal believes that the massacre at the start of the war was a conspiracy by elements from Israel who want to eliminate Gaza. We try facts – but there is no willingness to accept. He is also unwilling, unlike his custom, to participate in helping to translate conversations with Palestinians on the street, and he religiously keeps a distance from parking near the checkpoints.
Stopping at stores in Issawiya and hearing about the entry of security forces at any time, except during school hours in the morning. The owner of a vegetable shop tells us one side of a Jerusalem marriage and divorce story – a resident of Jerusalem, a Palestinian from the territories, the wife’s cooperation with the police and finally divorce and the abandonment of the children. He raises them alone and the security forces constantly bother him.
Kamal drops us off at a large complex of kindergartens and elementary schools (Israeli curriculum). We meet some boys aged 10-11 on the way to classes. They don’t believe at first that we are Israelis. When they are convinced, they change their tone to teasing, surround us and shout in English “ISRAEL IS “BOOTS, “EL QUDS IS JUST FOR PALESTINE”. We intended to enter the school and talk to teachers as well, but the group follows us and we become uncomfortable. We met an angry and alienated new generation of Jerusalemites with a blue card.
Shuafat Refugee Camp: We passed the checkpoint into the camp. The crossing is for blue certificates only. Passengers on buses get off at a distance from the checkpoint and IDs are checked. The lane to pass by private vehicle is very congested, but pedestrian crossing has resumed.
We enter the elementary school for boys and girls near the checkpoint during morning mass. The principal comes out to us and explains that we study here in an Israeli or Palestinian study program according to the parents’ choice. There are 9 classes of the Israeli program and 18 classes of the Palestinian program. The teachers come from Jerusalem. Semester break starts next week until January 9. We take a peek into the classrooms that used to be market spaces selling meat and vegetables.
The atmosphere is friendly, they know us and Kamal who lives in the neighbourhood. They ask that we not take pictures…
Driving on the Shuafat-Anata main road towards the Anata exit reveals that the road only gets worse. Bumps and potholes and a lot of dirt. The road renovation plan remained only on the sign at the entrance to the camp.
The junction at the exit from Anata to road 437 (which leads from road 60 to the Mishor Adumim junction) turns into a very wide traffic circle (Kamal says too wide for flowing vehicle traffic). There is also an extension towards the entrance to the Almon and Anatot settlements, and also to the entrance to Apartheid Road 4370.
8:45 Jaba’ checkpoint, A-Ram and Qalandiya checkpoint – Jaba’ checkpoint is open. Tamar reported this week that it closes early in the morning for two or three hours.
The ride flows until you reach the Qalandiya checkpoint area. We go up to the hill at the border of the A-Ram enclave to watch the further work on the lower area of the checkpoint. It is for for Israelis only. It seems that the subsidence will pass right under the camp next to the barrier itself, so it is impossible to see if digging is done there. They must be waiting for the Chinese workers to come in place of the Palestinians who are condemned to live without work. Now in the settlements they suddenly call the builders who work for them terrorists and forbid them to enter.
Returning to the Qalandiya checkpoint, it is empty at this time. They say it is open from six to eight in the morning and from four to six in the afternoon. But there is no sign that shows the opening hours, or a phone number for inquiries. “They know”, is the usual answer. We checked and found – only one route for the passage of vehicles is open continuously for vehicleular traffic, and even it closes at 5:00 p.m. The public transport route is closed, therefore bus traffic to and from Kufr ‘Aqab (a neighbourhood within the city limits) has stopped. This route is only opened for 15 minutes in the morning, for the special education shuttle crossing.
We leave at the passage for cars from the checkpoint to the Atarot road. It takes us 45 minutes! We are accompanied by wall paintings of longings for the past: a farmer among green hills, a boy with a key, the Dome of the Rock seems accessible and so close to those stuck at the checkpoint.
Al Jib checkpoint – this is the barrier between Givat Ze’ev and Ramot and the Bir Nabala enclave. Kamal parks far away for fear of the evil eye of the security personnel. We try to get closer on foot, but there is no way to reach the inspectors’ eyes except by walking on the road which the cars take. These days, Netanya says, it is not worth taking the risk that our suspicious figures will be shot. So, we ask for clarification from a worker with a Jerusalem certificate who is returning through the checkpoint. The checkpoint is open only to those included in the list placed at the checkpoint. Neither blue card holders, nor workers with a work permit are allowed to return through it or enter through it.
הצומת ביציאה מענתא לכביש 437 (המוביל מכביש 60 לצומת מישור אדומים) הופכת למעגל תנועה רחב מאוד (כמאל אומר רחב מדי לתנועה זורמת של רכב). יש הרחבה גם לכיוון הכניסה להתנחלויות עלמון וענתות, וגם לכניסה לכביש האפרטהייד 4370.
8:45 מחסום ג’בע, א-ראם ומחסום קלנדיה – מחסום ג’בע פתוח. תמר דיווחה השבוע שנסגר בבוקר מוקדם לשעתיים-שלוש.
הנסיעה זורמת עד שמגיעים לאזור מחסום קלנדיה. עולות לגבעה בגבול מובלעת א-ראם לצפות בהמשך העבודות על השיקוע שייתר את המחסום לישראלים בלבד. נראה שהשיקוע יעבור ממש מתחת למחנה הצמוד למחסום עצמו ולכן אי אפשר לראות אם חופרים שם. בטח מחכים לפועלים הסינים שיבואו במקום הפלסטינים שנגזר עליהם לחיות בלי עבודה. עכשיו בהתנחלויות קוראים פתאום לבנאים שעובדים אצלם מחבלים ואוסרים עליהם להיכנס.
חוזרות למחסום קלנדיה, הוא ריק בשעה זו. אומרים שהוא פתוח משש עד שמונה בבוקר ומארבע עד שש אחהצ. אבל אין שום שלט שכתוב עליו שעות פתיחה, או טלפון לבירורים. “הם יודעים”, היא התשובה הרגילה. בדקנו ומצאנו – רק מסלול אחד למעבר כלי רכב פתוח ברציפות לתנועת כלי רכב, ואף הוא נסגר ב-17:00. מסלול התחבורה הציבורית סגור, על כן פסקה תנועת האוטובוסים לכפר עקב (שכונה בתוך הגבול העירוני) וממנו. מסלול זה נפתח אך ורק ל-15 דקות בבוקר, למעבר הסעות החינוך המיוחד.
אנחנו יוצאות במעבר הרכב מהמחסום לכביש עטרות. לוקח לנו 45 דקות! מלווים אותנו ציורי קיר של משאת נפש: פלאחים בין גבעות מוריקות, ילד עם מפתח, מסגד כיפת הסלע נראה נגיש וקרוב כל כך לתקועים במחסום.
מחסום אל ג’יב – זה המחסום החוצץ בין גבעת זאב ורמות למובלעת ביר נבאללה. כמאל חונה רחוק מחשש עין רעה של אנשי הביטחון. אנחנו מנסות להתקרב ברגל, אבל אין דרך להגיע לעיני הבודקים אלא בצעדה חשופה על הכביש. בימים אלה, מסבירה נתניה, לא כדאי להסתכן שיירו בדמויותינו החשודות. אז מבקשים הבהרה מפועל בעל תעודה ירושלמית שחוזר דרך המחסום. המחסום פתוח רק לאלו הכלולים ברשימה המונחת במחסום. לא בעלי תעודה כחולה, ולא פועלים בעלי רישיון עבודה מורשים לחזור דרכו, או להיכנס דרכו.
'Isawiya (East Jerusalem)
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Isawiya is an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem, located on the eastern slopes of Mount Scopus in northern Jerusalem, on the edge of the Judean Desert. It is limited by the Slopes of Mount Scopus National Park, which was declared in 2012 to prevent the expansion of the neighborhoods of A-Tur and Isawiya. It has about 16,000 residents, but the neighborhood does not have a service and commercial center — a fact that causes the residents to consume services in the commercial center of the adjacent Jewish neighborhood French Hill .Most of the residents of the neighborhood work in Jerusalem.
The municipal plan for the neighborhood has been held up for years. This causes housing shortage and culminates in extensive demolitions of unpermitable home extentions and any new building. Unrest and violence follow, and police enters houses at night and throws gas graneds near schools.,.
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Al-Jib CP Givat Zeev (Jerusalem)
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Al-Jib CP GivatZeev (Jerusalem)
It is located on the separation fence, west of the al-Jib enclave. The checkpoint is regularly manned by Border Police and private security companies. Palestinians are not allowed to cross except for residents of the al-Khalaila neighborhood of the village of al-Jib, residents of al-Jib who own land on the western side of the fence, residents of a-Nabi Samuel, which is their only access road to Ramallah and the villages in northwest Jerusalem, as well as Palestinians with work permits in the Givat Zeev settlement and UN workers passing through UN vehicles.
(Updated January 2020)
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Checkpoint Shu'afat camp / Anata-Shu'afat (Jerusalem)
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The Shu’afat checkpoint is located in the northern part of East Jerusalem at the exit from the village of Anata and the Shu’afat refugee camp, which are located in the area annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. The refugee camp borders the Shu’afat neighborhood to the west, Pisgat Ze’ev to the north, the French Hill neighborhood to the south and the planned expansion of Ma’aleh Adumim to E-1 in the east. It was established in 1966 for 1948 refugees from the West Bank and was populated after the Six Day War by persons who had been expelled from the Jewish Quarter. Today its population comprises some 25,000 people holding blue ID cards and some 15,000 people with Palestinian ID cards. The camp lacks adequate infrastructure and services, and suffers from poverty, neglect and overcrowding. All its buildings are connected to the public electricity and water infrastructure, but not all are connected to the sewer system. The camp’s services are provided by UNRWA, except for those such as health clinics and transportation of pupils to schools in Jerusalem. In 2005, the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected a suit by the residents requesting that the route of the separation fence be drawn such that the camp would remain on the Israeli side, but conditioned its approval of the route on the establishment of a convenient and rapid crossing facility for the inhabitants of the neighborhood, most of whom are residents of Jerusalem.
A temporary checkpoint operated there until December, 2011. It was extremely congested during rush hours, and dangerous for pedestrians (especially children) because of inadequate safety provisions. The new checkpoint was inaugurated south of the old one, for public and private transportation and for pedestrians, intended solely for the residents of the camp – holders of blue ID cards, and those with Palestinian ID cards who possess appropriate permits. There are five vehicle inspection stations at the checkpoint, and two for pedestrians (one of which is currently closed) where scanners have been installed but are not yet operating. According to the army, representatives of government agencies will also be present to provide services to residents of the neighbourhood. The pedestrian lanes are very long, located far from the small parking lots, and accessible through only a single revolving gate.
Anat TuegDec-20-2023Anata: new traffic circle at the exit junction
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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 FleishmanMay-13-2025Qalandiya: Back-to-back procedure for transferring patients
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