Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 10.6.12, Afternoon
Translating: Ruth Fleishman
*If it wasn't a security and a humanitarian issue- we would be doing this!"
Qalandiya checkpoint:
A twelve year old pale and weak girl was detained in the ambulance that brought her from Ramallah in wait for the ambulance from
Jerusalem to arrive. Then, with hesitations, when the back-to-back procedure was being implemented she gathered her strength that was running out of her body, as she was transferred from the first vehicle to the other that took her to Mukased hospital.
At the bus lane intended for the privileged (anyone who isn't a resident of Palestine) we learned that the proc
edure that we had encountered when the checkpoint was first opened, according to which upon arriving at the age of 50 a person is permitted to pass through while seated inside the bus, was changed and is now more strict as the age that defines a person as elderly has risen to:"only is the person is at least sixty", one of the said.
Jaba checkpoint:
*If it wasn't a security and a humanitarian issue- we would be doing this!", said Gidi who was coaching a dog trainer as she was training the dog using a Palestinian vehicle that was hunted done arbitrarily.
-From the back, from the front and inside.
Once the mission was completed Gidi crossed the road and came towards us, he saod that is wasn't true that they train the dogs on Palestinians. That the preliminary training ("which is like kindergarten") is preformed at the base. "This over here is like school for them", he added and elaborated on the preposterous metaphor and moved on to talk about the security of the country while ignoring the question whether it was necessary to use vehicles when training the dogs, why the hell don't they train them at Givat Zeev, which is closer to their base, "base Adam", or perhaps train them at Rehaviya.
Oz, the checkpoint commander tried very hard to intimidate us so that we wouldn't watch them or take picture of their activity, told horrific stories about the dangers of entering the occupied territories through Qalandiya checkpoint (which is where we entered) and said that we were endangering our lives by standing by "his" checkpoint: "You better go away. There are a lot of warnings", the only new thing he had to say was regarding the reason why taking photos was forbidden: "There is military equipment here, so no pictures".
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 FleishmanNov-30-2025Qalandiya: Puddles and dirt after the rain
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