Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 18.9.11, Afternoon
Translating: Ruth Fleishman
Qalandiya checkpoint (photo: Behing the wall
) :
Palestinian friends that witnessed the women's demonstration on the previous day said that during the time it was taking place, the checkpoint had been closed from both sides for two hours. They testified that cement bricks were brought ten days before hand, they were used to block the roads and had been carried from the side of the roads to their center a day in advance and the way leading to and from Ramallah was blocked up until Sunday.
Only two lanes were active at the pedestrian checkpoint. Suddenly, as though they had been given a green signal, the two had stopped operating and no one was allowed in the inspection area. The lines grew wider and longer. Not only that no explanation was given, but all the soldiers had disappeared and the post at the end of our lane (no. 2) remained empty. After a nerve wracking twenty minutes, and not before we called the operation room receptionist to asked whether the checkpoint was closed for passage, the checkpoint was activated again.
At the waiting shed at the entrance to the checkpoint we met to desperate women from Gaza: the young one was a woman who went through a medical procedure in her eyes at the hospital in Ramallah and the other was her escort (probably her mother). Their permits had expired on Saturday. The DCO in Gaza that had been handling their case over the phone allowed them to pass a day later. When they gave the inspecting soldier their original "Tasrih", he confiscated the document and banished them from the site. Had the inspector behind the shielded window checked these women's information on the computer (as they had asked him) he would have known that a new permit was waiting for them at the DCO. When we asked the soldiers agreed to check their ID numbers, but by then it was too late, the DCO offices had already closed and no one was to be found there.
The women were forced to return to Ramallah, rent a hotel room and return to the checkpoint on the next day.
Jaba checkpoint:
Apart for a group of soldiers who had their rifles pointing at vehicles, a dog trainer 
and a dog with a muzzle on his mouth were also at the site. The checkpoint commander crossed the road towards us and in an instance started giving us his long speech, it was full of arguments against our presence and it start with: "you are endangering yourselves…", and continued with: "your presence is distracting my soldiers…", following this sentence came: "I don't like seeing you endangering soldiers….", and he even tried this one: "nothing is going on over here, it's a real bore!…"
We answered that we were going to stay and document, that we weren't concerned for our safety, that we had no intentions of talking to the soldiers and that we were not endangering them, and that we would overcome the boredom that he promised us.
He got back to the post and after several minutes the soldiers stopped a car, the driver got out of it, the muzzle was taken off the dog who sniffed the car from all sides, his trainer opened the doors and being so familiar with the job, he got inside, sat on the driver's seat and then wondered off to the rest of the seats, once he finished his task in a manner that satisfied his lady, he received signs of affection from her. Only then was the vehicle given back to its owner who was permitted to head on.
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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