Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya
05.10 The line was long but all the booths were open and the progress was satisfactory. Generally the passage took 25 minutes. Already when we arrived there was a boy in a wheel chair next to the “humanitarian” gate and he said that his father had been waiting there for a long while. A phone call from us and the problem was solved. We asked ourselves whether the policeman wandering around and the soldier in the cage were visually handicapped.
The “humanitarian gate” did not open at all. It seemed at the man from the DCO had not arrived. All our efforts were in vain. “The high windows” sleep at such a time and from the answer that we received from the captain on duty we decided not to publish because of the fear of “libel and invasion of privacy.” The Palestinian who on our previous shift said that he was sorry that “Hitler did not finish you off” appeared again and did not spare his words as to what he thought of us and our activities. We did not argue with him.
The vehicle passage: We spent much time there after the complaints that we had heard about the inspectors and the way the drivers were treated. During our shift cars were not checked. The drivers showed their IDs and the passage was swift. About a minute to a car and the queue quickly decreased. At the checkpoint of Jaba (Lil) soldiers were standing on the side of the road leading from Qalandiya to road 60 (the southern side) but they did not stop or delay cars.
We left at 7.30 when there was practically no queue and those who needed the “humanitarian gate” went through the regular cages.
Of his own initiative one of the captains came up to us and said that the soldiers of the military police were new at Qalandiya but “experienced” from the checkpoint at Bethlehem. “If there are problems approach us.”
As far as the road leading to Qalandiya is concerned we thought that it is worthwhile to encourage the heads of the neighborhoods and the leaders of the refugee camps to approach US AID who have been active and are active in the area.
One can take it for granted that the municipality of Jerusalem will do absolutely nothing about this.
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 FleishmanMay-13-2025Qalandiya: Back-to-back procedure for transferring patients
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