Qalandiya
The same picture, every day, all the week day after day, all the time
Dark and heavy smoke is covering the outskirts of the checkpoint. Large groups of soldiers from the Special Patrol units or the Counter-terror units, armed to their teeth, are firing gum bullets, and throwing gas grenades and shock grenades. They are accompanied by a Jeep equipped to fire gum bullets automatically. They attack again and again even when the "rioting" seems to have stopped. All this is happening while the strong projector on the tower is spreading its light into every little corner, and from further away another light is flickering to show the way to the "fighters".
The shooting does not discriminate between the men and the women of all ages, the babies and the children who are all crossing the checkpoint, their only way to move around, to go places and to return home.
A few hundred meters away from the checkpoint, smoke is rising. Some youngsters are burning everything they can get their hands on, mostly gum. This is their way of protesting and expressing their despair. Every day young people are being arrested only for other youngsters and children to appear the next day to continue the demonstration from the day before.
A group of about twenty men wearing dark uniforms is coming out from the checkpoint and moving towards the main road to Ramallah. They are accompanied by a reporter and a photographer whose task it is to give a favorable picture of the struggle for the safety of Israel. It is quite obvious that the soldiers are eager to fight. It shows on their faces. They are giving orders to "clear the way", and their officer tells us to be careful, but when they realize that we speak Hebrew they ask us if we" have buttered the Arabs up enough today".
We see and experience all this. A group of vendors at the checkpoint makes us aware of everything that is going on and instructs us how to find shelter from the gas while offering us pieces of onion.
Shots are heard from Qalandiya. The people at the checkpoint tell us it is live fire. They are all proud of their young people and support them, although times are hard making a livelihood is becoming more difficult.
They also tell us that four days ago some soldiers kicked an old beggar. They called the miserable woman to approach them only to send her away and kick her until she fell on the ground and was injured…She has not turned up at the checkpoint since.
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 FleishmanOct-11-2026Qalandiya. Female Beggar
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