Qalandiya
Relatively light foot traffic
When we arrived at the checkpoint at 5:30 a.m., the shed was effectively deserted. The turnstile of the far-right “cage” was open to all comers, and the lines before the checking stations moved swiftly. It was not until 5:55 that the soldier in the “aquarium” closed the turnstile and two lines began to form, but they never reached beyond the entrance to the shed, and so the situation remained throughout the morning “rush hour.
The Humanitarian Gate was not opened at all. At 6:35 the Civil Administration soldier in charge of the gate arrived but never opened the gate, even when women and men eligible to use the gate lined up before it. At 6:40 we tried to get her attention to open the gate for a woman with an infant but neither she nor the policeman and policewoman nor the security guard all present on the other side of the bars would speak with us (that is, totally ignored our requests to talk with them). Instead the four were all talking to one another or starting at their cell phones. At 7:00 when a number of people lined up at the Humanitarian Gate, because they saw the soldier was there and assumed she was there to operate the gate, she was aware of their presence (i.e., saw them) but let them wait there for 4-5 minutes before she deigned to tell that she did not intend to open the gate. So the reason for her presence there at all remained a mystery.
At 7:10, when the cages had emptied out, we got on line and, because of a considerable delay to enter the checking station, left the checkpoint at 7:33.
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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