Qalandiya
“A land for dogs!”
6.13 -7.30 Unfortunately, we could arrive only at 6.13 – to find three lines of workers stretching right to the parking lot. According to a foreign volunteer who had been on the other side of the barrier, people were coming out at a very slow rate, so it looks as if the soldiers processing the checking were working very slowly. Matters weren’t helped by the fact that the soldier working the carousels either didn’t understand her job or showed singularly little initiative, and opened the carousels only when instructed by the officer or policeman, who were not always available.
The humanitarian gate was already being opened when we arrived and continued to be opened at frequent intervals UNTIL: there was an argument between the soldier and a man who had already passed the gate and was in the holding compartment (that exists before a carousel that people have to pass through finally to reach the checking posts). The man was taken away by the soldier and policeman, and the large crowd who by now had collected to enter the humanitarian gate were told, very roughly, that the gate was now closed and that they had to join the normal lines. As there was now no one to instruct the soldier to open the carousels, they remained closed (though we and people in the ‘cage’ opposite her tried to catch her attention) and everyone got very agitated. So much so that the men wouldn’t let women come into the queue out of turn, as they usually do.
A man whose place was being kept for him by his brother, way out towards the parking lot, came to chat. His joke: President Bush came to visit the country and brought his pet dog. When it came time to leave, the dog refused to enter the plane. “ Why? Why?” asked Bush. The dog replied, “This is a dog’s country.”
Finally, the officer returned (without the ‘troublesome’ man) and opened the humanitarian gate and also saw that the carousels were opened.
We had to leave at 7.30. There were still lines, by this time reaching ‘’only’ to the edge of the hut.
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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