Qalandiya
A honey morning at Qalandiya
We arrived at the checkpoint at 5:05. Like we have been doing lately, we parked the car on the Israeli side and walked through the checkpoint. Surprise: 5 check posts were open. The covered area was empty.
People came running from their transportation, astonished to find the place empty, smiling, asking what had happened and hurrying inside.
They told us that it had been hard all week, but today it was different.
It was quiet.
The soldier (a wonderful guy! We told him he was doing a great job.) in the aquarium announced, from time to time, that all the check posts were open letting the people through quite smoothly. He called us for a moment, when he had to, quite an idyllic situation.
Since we really had nothing to do we passed the time having a nice conversation with police officer L"M: He has worked at the checkpost for 13 years. He has seen and heard everything. He said that he reads our reports regularly, and that altogether we are doing a good job, but that sometimes we do not fully understand the constraints and the procedures at the checkpoint. We said that, sometimes, you don't see things from one side of the fence which you see from the other side, and that goes for both sides…
Following the terrible shift we(and everybody who had to cross the checkpoint) had to go through last week, we tried to understand from him what should be done on days when there is a lot of pressure and pushing, when people are being humiliated by the policemen in charge and the DCO doesn't care enough about the people in need of help. He didn’t come with any practical solutions. He explained that we can talk to him, that they do care, that they want the people to pass quickly and smoothly, and that if there is a problem, it has to be dealt with. We agreed.
6:40 We crossed the checkpoint quickly and drove to work.
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
See all reports for this place-
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-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
-