Qalandiya
There were not very many people at the CP yesterday afternoon in the murderous heat of the past week.
We were very surprised to see that all four passageways were operating, and the soldier on duty in the cubicle at the CP entrance made sure to announce that all passageways were active every few minutes. Of course, in the prevailing heat, only people who absolutely had to were actually going out doors, so the lines in all the passageways remained very short almost the entire length of our shift.
We saw no special problems until about 4:50 PM when we suddenly noticed that the line in Passageway 1 had lengthened considerably. It turned out that all the other passageways had shut down (the soldiers having apparently all gone to eat their supper at this early hour), and the soldiers on duty in Passageway 1, instead of increasing their efforts had sunk into a stupor and slowed down their pace of work. The line grew longer and people began to grumble and complain. We phoned headquarters to ask for some help. Nothing happened.
Meanwhile we struck up a conversation with one of the people standing in line. He told us that his son had been operated on early that morning in Muqassad Hospital (in East Jerusalem) and that he was supposed to donate blood for the operation. In order to do so, he had to receive a permit to enter Jerusalem. He said he had stood in line from 10 AM until 4 in the afternoon to receive the permit. The man had nothing good to say about the administration of the Occupation…. He complained bitterly about the bureaucracy and lack of empathy. But in the end he managed to cross into Jerusalem and hopefully to donate blood and visit his son and find that all was well and the boy was recovering.
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 FleishmanJun-28-2026Qalandiya. The bridge leading from Jerusalem to the Qalandiya checkpoint
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