Qalandiya
Once again we encountered a terrific traffic jam at the southern entrance to the CP that was resolved only when the soldiers opened the Great Gate in the Wall. When we finally reached the pedestrian CP, we found everything as usual and rather calm. We noticed an elderly couple looking quite bewildered standing by the fence around the entrance guard’s post. We walked over to talk to them and learned that the husband had been released earlier that day from a hospital in Nablus after having undergone an operation 3 days earlier and they were trying to return to their home in Gaza. At the hospital they had been told that there was a permit to enter Israel waiting for them at the DCO in Qalandiya, but they had not been able to enter the DCO and didn’t know what to do. We phoned headquarters and spoke with a soldier who called himself “S—” and who promised to help. It took him a while but in the end the couple was allowed to enter Israel in order to get home to Gaza.
During our shift we noticed that passage through the CP was getting slower and that lines in the two active passageways were getting longer and longer. From the parking lot we saw that the line at the passageway for bus passengers was also very long. From the parking lot we also saw an ambulance waiting in the vehicle CP while his Jerusalem counterpart waited on the Israeli side. We don’t know how long it had waited before we saw it but we immediately called S. who told us that a transfer had been coordinated and that the ambulances would soon be able to get together. “Soon” took 20 minutes.
When we left Qalandiya at 17:15 lines in the 2 CP passageways and in the bus CP were still very long.
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-16-2026Qalandiya CP: shortcut
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