Qalandiya
Dawn
Four stations were open when we arrived at 5:05 and the lines were moving fairly quickly despite the fact that the turnstile at the end of Cage 3 (the furthest on the right) was not operating at all (and was closed by a police barrier) and that the one at the end of Cage 1 was operating only sporadically. We could not establish contact with the soldier or the policeman inside the Aquarium to determine whether the turnstile in Cage 1 was faulty or whether the soldier was not operating it properly. A call to the Humanitarian Line / Headquarters woke up the woman soldier who was of no help whatsoever (“The faulty turnstile will be fixed sometime during the day”). When we asked to speak with her commander, we were told by the soldier that she is the one who deals with the public.
The soldier in charge of the Humanitarian Gate arrived at 6:05, opened the gate, and continued to open it thereafter, in his usual quiet and efficient manner, each time a group of people had gathered before it.
When we explained to him the problem with the turnstile in Cage 1, he immediately entered the Aquarium, pressed the button for that turnstile, and it opened – and continued to open without any problem for the rest of the time we were there. It thus remains unclear what the problem was earlier.
Because only one and later two turnstiles were in operation, they were opened for longer periods at each segment, and the flow was maintained fairly successfully throughout the morning.
The absurdity of the morning was a notice printed on A4-sized paper and tacked up by the police on a temporary cork board to the left of Cage 3. It announced that the parking lot would be closed that day until 9:30 p.m. and any car found within it during the day would receive a traffic ticket. There was no indication of this issue at the entrance to the parking lot or the entrance to the checkpoint, where someone might actually notice it. One had to get as far as Cage 3 inside the checkpoint (the one farthest from the entrance) and then look leftward to catch a glimpse of the sign. And Cage 3 was at any rate closed that day, so that hardly anyone got that far. It all seemed to us just another indication of the deep contempt in which the authorities hold the people who are forced to cross through the checkpoint.
Ultimately, when he emerged from the Aquarium, we asked the policeman on duty about the notice. He replied that he knew nothing about it and it must have been placed there by the municipal authority. That statement was actually the greatest absurdity of all, for it’s common knowledge that the municipal authority (namely, the Municipality of Jerusalem) does not function in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem located beyond the Separation Barrier, which is where the checkpoint’s parking lot is located. And the notice was clearly marked with the Police Department’s logo.
Anyway, we cannot say what happened to the cars (and their owners) after we left at 7:00 but we will try to follow up on this next week.
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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