Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya
On the banality of the occupation
We couldn’t tell whether she supported him or he supported her. Nor could we tell which of them was ill, him or her. Perhaps both.
“We need to go to the hospital” they said.
And while “we need to go to the hospital” should suffice to get them to the hospital, what’s clear and correct when something’s necessary isn’t clear and correct when you’re Palestinian.
So even though they’d left home with documents and a bag which must have held items you place in the small cabinet next to the hospital bed, and even though he or she or both of them were ill and required treatment, they returned home.
Soldiers in the tower overlooking the refugee camp.
Even when there are no children throwing rocks, and no children not throwing rocks, when in fact there’s no one, the soldiers occasionally fire two or three tear gas grenades, at nobody.
Why? Why not?
The remains of burned tires, black dust, soot, spent cartridges from rubber-coated metal pellets and empty tear gas grenades tell the tale of this place.
It was good to speak to the people on both sides of the wall.
Now, when the streets are empty and there are no customers in the shops and no one wants a taxi, “It took me only five minutes to drive from here to Ramallah,” said a taxi driver (a trip that usually takes at least half an hour), when no one leaves the house unless they have to, and when someone does go out, and recognizes and trusts the person facing them, they want to talk and are pleased that someone listens, and that’s important.
You hear of much fear, much apprehension, much worry, many stories, much anger and a tremendous amount of hatred.
The air smells of terror, the scent of death.
People pass the time watching clips of teenage boys and girls, and of children, bleeding, motionless, the youths and the boys and the girls who had been “neutralized” and bled and died.
And everyone, literally everyone, is talking about the injury to the Al-Aqsa mosque.
“Even if they’d destroyed the Muqata’a, even if they’d cut off Abu Mazen’s head, it wouldn’t have been as bad as touching Al-Aqsa.”
No one believes (and, to tell the truth, neither do I) that the Jews aren’t trying to harm the mosque and to Moslem sovereignty over the institution.
Police accompanied by military reinforcements arrived at the checkpoint above the village of Jaba. They stopped taxis, inspected documents, caused a traffic jam and issued traffic tickets. Many tickets, for not wearing seatbelts.
All this on the day the Acting Police Commissioner announced that “due to the situation” traffic policemen (who are usually the ones issuing traffic tickets) will be transferred to reinforce security forces at locations vulnerable to terror attacks.
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 FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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