Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Mon 19.3.12, Afternoon
When we reached Qalandiya at 3:30 PM we found all our friends from the northern shed, the peddlers with their pushcarts, standing outside under the dust-filled sky. They told us that they had been warned last Wednesday by a group of policemen that they could no longer stand in the shed. Since then they have been chased away every day. Fadi told us that the police had confiscated merchandise (fresh strawberries and almonds) worth NIS 5,000 and that a peddler named Jabber had suffered a loss of NIS 10,000, including a fine. The peddlers provided names of the policemen who had been particularly hard on them.
At 3:40 PM two passageways to Jerusalem (Nos. 1 and 4) were open. Fourteen people were waiting in Passageway 5 to get to the DCO offices and the post office. 
Some of those waiting said that they had been on line since 12 noon and the gate had not been opened even once. We phoned headquarters and were told they would check on what was happening. Nothing happened. The Passageways Unit were unwilling to talk to us and slammed the phone down. In the end we tried a police phone number (which we had been warned was only for emergencies). Surprisingly, the policeman on the line answered politely and even offered information that a problem with the computer system had been causing troubles at the CP for several hours. He said that the problem was almost solved and that the DCO offices would open shortly. And, in fact, within minutes (4:03 PM), the PA system announced that Passageway 5 was open to the post office and the DCO. Unfortunately, opening of Passageway 5 was accompanied by closure of Passageway 4, leaving only one passageway available for those trying to reach Jerusalem (quite a large number of people returning home, especially students, at this time of day). 
Passageway 1 quickly filled to overflow, with ca. 40 people waiting in line, and then the entrance to the CP from the northern shed (where another 20 were waiting on line) was closed as well. Meanwhile, in the aquarium between passageways 4 and 5, two female soldiers and one male (a guest?) were holding a lively conversation, passing a cell phone around among them and laughing – a real blast! Even after they finished passing the 14 people into the DCO/Post Office, they continued their socializing instead of opening the passageway to Jerusalem. We phoned the police number once again and within minutes the PA announced that Passageway 4 was open – but only to Palestinians with Palestinian Authority ID cards (green), a very small number of people at this time of day who were happy to "finally" enjoy a preferential status over Jerusalemites with blue ID cards, of whom 40 or 50 were still standing in the long line in Passageway 1. Although we phoned again, to "squeal" and request that the soldiers in Passageway 4 be ordered to take care of Jerusalemites as well, we were unsuccessful in improving the "service." This begs the question, is each soldier at Qalandiya a law unto him or herself?
When we left Qalandiya at 4:55 we saw that ca. 20 people were waiting on line in the queue for bus passengers. At Lil/Jabba CP we saw a fierce looking German Shepherd (muzzled) was on duty with the soldiers
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-12-2026Qalandiya. Abdallah at his fruit stand
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