Qalandiya
The "humanitarian" gate: I wonder who invented this "sexy" name. It's hard to see the connection between the name and the place. Women on their way to work have been crossing at the checkpoint since the beginning of the morning shift. The gate has been closed, of course (why of course?). They have no choice but to squeeze through the overcrowded fenced-off areas. We have received quite a few complaints from women having been harassed in the crowd. And what about the children, the disabled and the sick?
Once, you could read the opening hours on a sign on the gate. The sign has disappeared – and maybe it's for the better, since the gate hardly ever opens on time. And why can't it be left open according to schedule? Why do people have to wait in line until it opens? We have kept asking these questions for years, but the bureaucracy of the occupation doesn't make sense, only questions and no answers.
The DCO officer appeared at 6:15 ignoring the gate. Later, a policeman, a policewoman and two security guards joined the policeman who was already there. A big enough team to open the gate? That's what one would think. They sat down outside the aquarium talking to each other. Sometimes, the policeman who had been around since 5:30 joined them. They would not open the gate before there was a line of waiting people but, of course, there was no line because when the women became desperate they chose to suffer the humiliation in the fenced-off areas only to be on time for work. Once in a while, the officer and the policemen were "kind enough" to open the gate, but soon, they got fed up and before 7 o'clock nobody was left to open it.
At the beginning the line stretched out of the covered area. All the check posts kept working. We measured that it took 25 minutes to cross. Towards 7 o'clock the line had become shorter so the crossing was faster. From time to time, announcements were made through the loudspeakers but we found it hard to understand what was said. Like every day, they announced that those who don't need permits, men above the age of 60, would not be allowed to cross before 8 o'clock. At 6:40, a young couple arrived. The man was carrying a sleeping baby. The humanitarian gate was closed. The workers let them through so they crossed quickly. When the man turned to me in Hebrew asking if I too had had to carry a sick baby like this on his way to the hospital I didn't know what to say. How can one answer such a question? And as usual, there was nothing new under the sun at the checkpoints.
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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