Qalandiya
Perhaps what they want is after all حرية.
It is disgusting and nauseam how all this has been systematized.
So arranged, and so much according to what the authorities wanted and determined and to what the soldiers and policemen and security officers carried out, that it was actually depressing.
Because when things are so accurate and organized and tight, the judgment is wiped out and the human factor disappears and what remains are robots who carry out orders. Even when they are courteous they are nothings but robots.
Because when there are no cracks light has no means of penetrating.
And so, when the rules of this day say that women have to go from here and men from there – then the women can pass only here and the men only there. And when the humanitarian exception rules that even sick and crippled men can pass where the women pass, but only if they are in a wheel chair, then the cardiac patient who has no walking problems but fears the crowding and congestion at the men's gate, is obliged to sit in a wheelchair and be pushed to the other side. And when men are forbidden to walk on the women's course, the invalids are obliged to part from masculine escorts. Because: "nothing can be done, these are the regulations".
· The hundred square meters at the entrance to the CP, the area which serves as a bustling parking space during the rest of the year, have turned into a sterile area of grey concrete, bare and silent, and people are directed mercilessly only to its margins.
· Streams of people flowed to the CP and the order was exemplary.
Years of oppression have marked the Palestinians.
It was rare to see a Palestinian rebelling or openly and loudly insisting on his right not to be constrained in the fetters of regulations.
· And with all this there was also one uplifting fact:
The Palestinian policemen were not there and did not aid in the sifting, selection and guidance as in former years.
Moreover, the effort which was invested by the authorities in creating a display of excessive facilitations because of the month of Ramadan was thwarted, according to the Activities Coordinator in the territories Major General Yoav Poly Mordehai, by the Palestinian Authority, who refused to coordinate with the civil administration the promotion of the transportation of tens of thousands of Palestinians to the El-Aktza mosque. This coordination necessitated that the Palestinian Policemen perform the security check and the observance of the age limitation of the people entering the boundary of Jerusalem.
Or, as Mahmud El-Habash, the advisor of the Palestinian president, said in response to the question of the Ha-Aretz newspaper in this matter: "Israel continue to conduct itself in this issue like a master who fixes all the conditions".
And the answer to the border policeman, the border policeman too, who complained about the lack of cooperation of the Palestinian Authority and asked:
"What do they want after all? – don't they want that the people should pass?"
Perhaps what they want, in the end is حرية (huriya) – freedom.
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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