Qalandiya
We reached Qalandiya shortly before 4 PM after a long wait in the traffic jam in the southern square. We found a relatively large number of people waiting in the CP, but turned our attention to a group of 5 men waiting at the entrance of the DCO passageway. We found out that two of them were accompanying their wives (who had cancer and had just been released from hospital in Nablus where they had undergone chemotherapy) back to Gaza. The two women were waiting in the northern shed. The men had given their I.D. cards and all their paperwork to a driver they had just met at 1 PM and now, at 4 PM when their phone calls to him went unanswered, were beginning to wonder if he hadn’t gone off with their documents and what were they to do? We tried to help and phoned the DCO representative who checked the ID numbers and told us that they didn’t appear in her list. She told us to contact the Palestinians at Erez Crossing and tell them to arrange for the people to get back to Gaza. So we called the hospital in Nablus where the people gave us the number of a contact person who told us that everything had been arranged and that it was the Israeli’s who were messing things up! And so it turned out! After 20 minutes the missing driver emerged from the DCO offices with all the documents in hand, including the permits. Everyone was overjoyed and immediately started organizing themselves for the trip ahead. After the two couples had crossed through the CP successfully, a young boy and his father approached us. They too wanted to return to Gaza and they held in their hands two permits that had just been issued by the DCO in Qalandiya. But when they had presented their papers in the passageway the soldiers had refused to let them through. We phoned headquarters and asked to be connected to the DCO representative (after no one answered our direct phone call). A young man got on the line and questioned us about the permits held by the father and son. When he was convinced that the permits were in order he phoned the soldiers in the passageway and instructed them to let the father and son through. We saw them pass through the CP on their way to Gaza. It sure was an exhausting day at Qalandiya. It makes you wonder how the Palestinians endure!!
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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