Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, יום א’ 7.6.09, אחה”צ
Qalandiya Checkpoint:
The coffee salesman was standing at the entrance to the checkpoint. He is a friend of ours who has given us plenty of reliable information in the past. He told us that at four AM hundreds of people filled the waiting hall, the mass of people reached up until the parking lot. There was only one human cage open and only one inspection post. 
– A 15 year old boy and is elder sister were waiting clueless at the checkpoint. They were from east Jerusalem and the boy was denied passage as his birth certificate was lost and he tried passing with his student card, which has his ID number and his picture imprinted on it.
I passed with the two into the inspection post. The soldiers said that only a police officer could give the boy permission to pass. I asked that they talk to the officer that was on duty. Shaul was the police officer and he two had "hardened his heart". I called the deputy commander of the checkpoint: police officer Eli, that took a glance at the surveillance camera to see that it was indeed me, and saw that the boy wasn't an adult, and finally he ordered on opening the passage for the two (once again we had to engage in conversation with the surveillance cameras- the representatives of the big brother).
-The new machines that are to supervise the Palestinians' passage had been taken out of their boxes and place in the corridors where those heading back from Jerusalem pass.
Over there is where The passage to the DCL
Fifteen minutes before the official closing time of the DCL and the turnstiles to the of
fices were locked. We had to make four phone calls to the DCL war room, so until the opened the turnstiles before those who wished to enter. We passed together with them, meaning to reach Kiyat Ha'memshala, but the gate leading to entrance into the "Blue Elephant" was locked. When Moran showed her ID to the soldier behind the bullet proof window, the soldier mutter out: "bitch".
Plans for a new wall?!
We were told that it won't be long until construction works for an inner wall, separating between Kufer Akab and Smirmis from Qalandia refugee camp, will begin. The two neighborhoods will be annexed into Jerusalem. This wall will begin at road leading to Kufer Akab and surround Smirmis, it will head on to Qalandia village and then connect with the checkpoint at the airport lane. We have witness the hasty works on the northern side of the vehicle checkpoint. That is probably the closing point of the wall.
The person who gave us this information said that not only had this news been published in an Israeli newspaper (he couldn't remember whether it was Ma'ariv or Yediot Aharonot), but that he himself learned about it when he was at the city hall at Jerusalem, where he saw the blueprint of the construction work.
We are as certain as he was, that we would soon witness the realization of this plan.
Jaba/Leel Checkpoint:
The checkpoint commander told us about the importance of warning the Israelis/Jews from heading to Ramallah. He even troubled himself and showed us the decree that enforces him with the right to prevent anyone from heading west, even though (and his he knows), the A' territories are over 10 km away from that spot.
Yair Nave is the one to have signed that decree: he used to be a general and today sells weapons in Colombia.
The decree had been issued on December 2006. It has no expiration date.
Everything is arbitrary, that is what we have come to learn over the years: When they want to, they make it easier, and when they wish the opposite, they make it harder. Usually they want to make things harder.
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-16-2025Qalandiya: summer fruit
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