Qalandiya
The fear of the too-swift responses of armed Jews managed to keep the Friday Palestinian worshipers on the "right" side of the CP
9:00
when we arrive, we find the terminal pretty quiet and almost empty – a rarity for us and a very unpleasant one… It is never really pleasant at Qalandiya but this is a different experience. It is scary to see how fear runs on all sides.
It’s very dirty – behind the fences on the side of the soldiers we actually observed a young man with a broom.
The drivers are waiting for the few Friday passengers, sitting idle in the pleasant sunshine next to the kiosk. They explain the meaning of the silence: people are afraid to pass, afraid to be in areas where Israeli civilians and security personnel are walking around with weapons and react to every movement with precise shooting. Also people, who worked in cafes and restaurants on the Jewish side, were dismissed. One of them sat with the drivers and said that he has no money to buy food for his family.
A group of older men were sent back. We called DCL and received a puzzling answer: older men are entitled to pass except on Fridays (?!). A soldier then appeared and was willing to talk to us over the fence. We tried to find out whether there is a new policy regarding the passage of older men. He first claimed that women over 50 and men over 55 are allowed to pass, but when he heard what the DCL told us, he stated that if this is what a DCL representative said – DCL knows.
A 55-year-old man was sent back. They told him he was prevented from entering Israel, but he doesn’t know why. For quite a while now he goes from one DCL to another in an effort to find out what is wrong and why he is prevented but to no avail.
A disabled man rolls in in a wheelchair. We were able to get the attention of the soldier in a bunker. After a pantomime through the windows of the bunker she summoned someone to open the gate for him. After 10 minutes the appropriate someone arrived and opened the Humanitarian Gate for him.
Although all the crossings operate and there are very few people lines are created in the checking queues behind the turnstile. We assume that nowadays the checking is unusually thorough.
In light of the emptiness we retired early.
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 FleishmanOct-11-2026Qalandiya. Female Beggar
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