Qalandiya
We arrived at about 5.20. We parked and went on foot to the Palestinian side. At this time of the year there is already the first light. Inside were lines which led to outside the shed and into the parking area. But afterwards the lines shortened and were contained in the shed. The right hand turnstile was barricaded by a police blockade and it seems that it is once more not working. The workers know that this is so and stand only in the other two lines.
The month of Ramadan is coming to an end and the baigel seller is not present. The people stand in line not smoking or drinking coffee and usually also they do not have bags or parcels of food and maybe because of that the checking is swift. The parking area is empty and the entrance is blocked.
Because the lines were not long women went through in the ordinary way. But as time went on more and more elderly people and groups of women arrived, some of them with children. They waited in the beginning at the side and filled the few benches which are still left in the shed.
At about 6.20 the representative of the DCO arrived but because there was no guard or policeman went back the way he had come . About 6.30 he came back with a guard accompanying him. They did not open the gate and told the elderly people (men over 55 and women over 50) that they could only pass at 8 o’clock as usual. All the permits for Ramadan had been cancelled after the terrorist attack at the Damascus gate. People who turned to the guard or the soldier had the permits taken from .them. On the other hand they did explain that because the night was the night of El Qadr they would be able to pass from 12 o’clock onwards as it is on Friday. Women of all ages, children to the age of 14 and men over the age of 40 and this without a permit. They were told that the checking areas outside would be working, those that are open on Friday of Ramadan (Laylat al-Qadr (Arabic: لیلة القدر) (also known as Shab-e-Qadr , loaned from Persian), variously rendered in English as the Night of Decree, Night of Power,[2] Night of Value, Night of Destiny,[3] or Night of Measures, is in Islamic belief the night when the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[4] It is one of the nights of the last ten days of Ramadan. Muslims believe that on this night the blessings and mercy of Allah are abundant, sins are forgiven, supplications are accepted, and that the annual decree is revealed to the angels who also descend to earth. Shia Islam holds that Prophets and the Shia Imams are recipients of the angels on the night of Qadr and the decrees that they reveal)
In the meantime the cages emptied out and the women went through and passed through the checking areas. At about 6.45 we joined the lines which had emptied out. There were many women who were not allowed to enter. While we were standing there we saw 4 guards and soldier from the DCO entering the waiting area. They opened a side gate and sent the older women back into the shed. They had to wait until the hour of 8 when the older people are allowed to pass. Others would have to wait until 12. They allowed an old woman who was sitting on the floor with her cane and who said it was hard for her to get up to remain seated. She would have to do so until 12 o’clock.
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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