Qalandiya
It seems that we can open our weekly report in the same manner every week as nothing at all seems to change, at least not for the better. Once again we arrived at Qalandiya to find a huge traffic jam in the southern square that only began to disperse when the Great Gate in the Wall was opened. The problem is that with every passing week the driving of those stuck in the jam becomes a bit more aggressive so that every week is a bit more frightening that the last one. A Palestinian ambulance was standing in the vehicle CP while a Jerusalem ambulance waited in the bus parking lot. Natanya jumped out to see if she could help, but there was really no need as things worked out pretty quickly.
There were two active passageways in the pedestrian CP with fairly long lines in each. The lines as well as the waiting time grew longer as time passed. We phoned headquarters and asked to speak to the officers in charge. The female soldier who answered refused our request saying that they had a tremendous work load and that we should phone back later. Meanwhile the passageways had filled up completely and the guard at the CP entrance locked the turnstile so that a line quickly formed in the northern shed. We haven’t seen such crowds at the CP in the late afternoon in a very long time. We observed what was happening in the passageways and noticed that the team operating in Passageway 4 was working relatively efficiently while the team in Passageway 1 was allowing only two people at a time into the examination area and, after dealing with them and letting them into Jerusalem, they would take a break of from 5 to 10 minutes. Clearly there are closed circuit cameras at the CP filming what happens in the passageways. Are there no cameras filming the soldiers running the CP that see how they function? We tried to contact officers to inform them of what was happening in the CP, but no one was answering the phones, not in the DCO, not the DCO representatives and not even the telephone of the unit that operates the passageways. Qalandiya is an “orphan” CP!
We left Qalandiya a little after 5:15 PM. The lines were still very long. The soldier on duty at the CP entrance told us that all the soldiers were taking a break to eat their supper, so nothing could be done. But can’t the IDF change its schedule so that the soldiers eat a little later when there is less pressure at the CP (like 7 PM)? I imagine that all those Palestinians would also like to get home to eat.
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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