Qalandiya
We’ve pulverized, leveled, crushed, destroyed – and also killed.
And then left, announced we see a “political horizon.”
But even those with telescopic vision see no horizon. Not in Gaza, nor at Qalandiya.
“We just want to live,” says one, say many.
Just live.
But it’s hard to live when each day a new misfortune, a new restriction, a new, unexpected difficulty arises, one that only minds bent on evil could invent.
Like this week’s innovation, the high metal fence blocking pedestrians arriving at and leaving the checkpoint.
These 100-150 meters aren’t a negligible matter, certain not for the elderly or those with handicaps moving through this filthy place, filled with potholes, where people are not only humiliated but – particularly during demonstrations – are shot at.
“Don’t photograph our faces” said the youth we know well who, a week ago, had participated in a demonstration supporting the people of Gaza and been shot by soldiers sniping at the protestors from a new position atop the wall.
He, like others, isn’t included in any statistics.
Nor is the young woman suffering from a disease of the lymph glands
who’s come all the way from Gaza to the Ramallah hospital because, even before the war, Gaza didn’t have medical equipment appropriate for diagnosing her condition, operating and perhaps saving or lengthening her life and who sits and waits with her mother at the checkpoint entrance until the document is issued permitting them to return home. Not much of the horizon is left for her either, and not only because of her illness.
Finally the document was issued and the two women crossed, until the next time. Until the operation. When they’ll come back, request a permit, travel to Ramallah and request a permit to return home, until the next time, and the next…
One who didn’t go through is a man, also a resident of Gaza, who’d had a cardiac operation,who’d gotten on line at seven-thirty this morning waiting and hoping to receive a permit to return home, to his family, and the hours passed and he still stood waiting until his strength failed and he collapsed.
An ambulance was called, the man was returned to Ramallah, to the hospital. We don’t know whether he’s alive or not.
And all of them – the man who collapsed and the sick woman and the youth with a cast on his arm and all the others –want only to live.
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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