Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 3.4.11, Afternoon
We met old friends and made some new ones.
We spoke to R., a 25 year old man who had spent the last five years in different prisons: "they said, but I didn't say it, that I threw stones at the vehicles on this road". When they came to arrest him he ran away. His capturers shot him in the back. Two bullets from the round shot entered his body. An incriminating witness was brought to court, and in spite of the fact that R denied the charges, the court believed the prosecution. Now, after R had been released, he is trying to rehabilitate the wreckage of his adolescence with the constant fear that another round is waiting at the corner: another set up > incrimination > arrest.
We were told of the 14 year old boy Salah Lutfi Hamed who was taken away by people in civilian clothing ("detectives" they said), in the early evening hours of this Friday. Salah was with some other boys of his age, when one of them threw a Molotov cocktail at the checkpoint: "They see everything with their cameras", we were told. The boy who threw the bottle hurried and run away. The people from the checkpoint- who either didn't want to come back empty handed or were forbidden to do so- took Salah with them to god knows where.
In the human pens at the entrance to the checkpoint a young man was cursing the soldier at the front post. The soldier, being locked in a cell that defends him from bullets and people, couldn't hear what was being said, but it was obvious that he was able to make out the spirit in which they were said, from the person's body language. His face didn't portray anger but awareness to the power he had, as though saying: "now we'll see who's the tough one…" and with a hint of a teasing smile on his face he pressed the button and locked the passage to everyone. The people around us looked with apathy and acceptance at the finger that controls their time, they weren't angry at the soldier or at the young man who spoke up, and waited, the victims of this collective punishment didn't know how much time would have to pass until the punisher would be satisfied.
Jaba checkpoint:
We spent some twenty minutes observing the activation of the checkpoint which it's only purpose is to protect the settlers and prevent them from driving towards Qalandiya and Ramallah, for fear that Palestinians might attack them. We saw that the soldiers completed their orders with devotion: they stopped drivers with yellow/Israeli plats alone, and just as is done at the entrance to the airport, the driver was asked a question so as to hear his accent- Jewish or Arab.
After tens of "Kosher" vehicles, a driver that wasn't used to obeying the soldiers orders and that didn't understand the conduct of the checkpoint, was spotted. She didn't stop when the soldier at the front post told her to open the window and give a simple answer to his question, but committed what is called in the military lingo a checkpoint break. 
The soldiers at the back post took over quickly, diagnosing the look and accent of the driver and the passenger that was with her, and the two settlers were courteously given permission to make a u-turn and head back.
A police car was present that whole time. Two officers "cashed in" a nice sum and with the help of the army the handed out tickets to Palestinian traffic offenders driving inside Palestine.
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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