Qalandiya
How I almost spent the night in jail and who’s liable to be punished when I don’t obey the police.
An ambulance arriving from Palestine brought a woman about thirty years old with blood poisoning, complications from an operation she’d undergone in Ramallah. That’s what Wassim told me, the medical staffer who came from East Jerusalem to bring the woman to St. Joseph Hospital.
The conversation with Wassim was interrupted by the shouts of Menashe Hai, the policeman who demanded I leave, and “Are you still continuing with your nonsense?”
When he was done shouting he forbade the medical personnel to transfer the woman at the designated spot and sent them to a location between two places where soldiers were stationed, “And you’re not going there!” he yelled.
I didn’t go there. I went to the spot where the police allow me to be, in front of the vehicle checkpoint, stood beside a pedestrian crossing and from there photographed the two ambulances.
Menashe Hai rushed over, “Give me your ID…I’m detaining you…I don’t care whom you complain to…You can publish…”
I was detained only a few minutes. Menashe spoke on the phone. I know to whom he spoke because I heard his name but I don’t know what was said, I know only that when the conversation ended I was no longer detained, but heard only “Aren’t you tired of your nonsense?” and “If you take pictures here one more time I won’t allow through any more ambulances.”
The suggestions to observers about how to write a report mention it’s important to include a personal element.
So, on a personal note, I admit it’s not easy to face violent, armed authority like that and I know some say what I’m doing is provocative and the policeman says what I’m doing is nonsense and I say that what I’m doing is documenting what’s happening.
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 FleishmanNov-30-2025Qalandiya: Puddles and dirt after the rain
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