Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, יום א’ 1.11.09, אחה”צ
Hila Beeped
15:30 – Seeing an ambulance arriving from the Occupied Territories we rushed ourselves and tried arriving at the other side before it did. The three of us entered all together, standing in front of the three soldiers at the sterile post. We placed our bags on the x-ray machine as requested and headed to the window to show the soldiers our IDs. The metal detector beeped when Hila walked through it. Nothing was found in her pockets. Hila stepped back as the soldier ordered, she then passed again through the metal detector and a beeping sound from an unknown place on her body was heard. Since she didn't have a belt on and her pockets were empty, we took her Machsom Watch badge off. Hila walked through it again: she beeped on the way inside but didn't beep each time she stepped outside. The intercom on that post was out of order. Our dialog with the soldier was based on shouting and mimics. The whole time we heard the usual incomprehensible roaring from the other lanes. "Our" lane just made a beeping sound as a reaction to Hila's body.
The commanding soldier that had caused the passage of the Palestinians to stop, started to get angry (so did we), and demanded the Rony and I pass to the other side. We refused to leave our new volunteer and demanded that she come over to our side and perform a physical inspection. It was probably because of last week events that the soldiers felt frightened of standing in the vicinity of Palestinians. At 15:55, 23 minutes after we entered the inspection zone (!), an officer had arrived. He wouldn't dare step into the 'danger zone", meaning: "us". He had an idle conversation with Hila through the bars: "check your pockets for change… maybe it's your keys… maybe… maybe…", all those maybes that the soldiers had already been through with Hila. Even after she had removed her wedding ring she kept on beeping. Inside- always, outside- sometimes. It was 16:05 when the commanding soldier put on her ceramic vest and slightly opened the door that separates the post from the passage, she let Hila into the room and preformed a superficial physical inspection on her while apologetically saying to her:"Listen, I feel bad, I'm used to doing this to Arabs…".
The ambulances had already left. There were two police officers on a motorbike that were pulling over people to check their vehicles. A resident from the ancient city was waiting idly for some friends, he gave us his perspective on the nature of the checkpoint: "Over here, the smallest thing is the crappiest. Over here, instead of letting an ambulance drive on, a woman might have to wait two hours till she gets to the hospital".
A television crossing the checkpoint:
Five men were carrying a brand new television, wide screen; it was packet up in its original box. They came from Jerusalem and needed to pass to Ramallah. The passage which is known as "the humanitarian passage" was closed. Once they managed to draw the attention of the soldier sitting in the glass box and ask that he open the gate for them, a sound was heard for the loudspeaker: "I'm not opening that gate!"
"I've never see such crap", was the response of one of the men. The five were resourceful and together they hurried to pass the television through the narrow crack on top the metal bars. 
Jaba (Leel) checkpoint:
A long line of vehicle in front of the checkpoint isn't a common sight. After all they only inspect the vehicles coming from the opposite direction. Even the soldiers (the reserve unit was replaced by regular soldiers) couldn't explain the reason for the traffic jam which stretched up to the settlement Adam.
After all, the soldiers only know, or at least they are supposed to know, what is going on in the specific spot where they are, and they don't have an overview picture. A fact which serves the system well.
The soldiers were mostly busy inspecting a driver who had been pulled over. One of the soldiers was pointing his rifle towards the source of "danger" while his colleague was searching the car and checking the driver's documents. Since nothing was found they sent the Palestinian off in his car.
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-27-2025Qalandiya: A beggar woman
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