Qalandiya
5:10 Long line. Only 3 booths in operation, very slow. The pressure in the "cages" is great; one young man was pushed so hard against the wall that it was necessary to remove him from the line to revive him. His face was white and it took him a few minutes to return to himself and go through the checkpoint again.
The Humanitarian line did open at 6:00, but then it closed again every time the line let up. There was a new sign there, saying that this was the "Humanitarian" line and it would be open until 9:00, but much earlier than that the women were already being shunted over to the regular line. Up untl 6:00 we saw only one policeman in the area, who was on the phone all the time. At 6:00, the civilian guards arrived and a DCO officer. The officer could be described as "rude lite" , with a generally contemptuous attitude. However, one of the civilian guards tried to compensate for this.
Two physically and mentally handicapped children arrived, carried by their parents with great difficulty. Again, there was the complaint about their not being allowed to pass through in their car. Certainly a cause for complaint, but not the first time.
We have been present at Kalandia many years, and the suffering is the same suffering. The same lady in a slightly different dress and it is impossible to come to terms with this.
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 FleishmanMay-13-2025Qalandiya: Back-to-back procedure for transferring patients
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