Qalandiya
Waiting outside the checkpoint with the East Jerusalem driver for the Gazan patients who are held inside the checkpoint until allowed to exit, helping them board the transport vehicle, load their heavy luggage – some of it personal effects and some gifts for family as well as food stuffs and clothing so badly lacking in the Gaza Strip – this long wait and conversation add knowledge about the procedures that people undergo who have just a few hours earlier been released from hospitals and are on their way home to Gaza. More details come together forming the puzzle picture of the inhuman, controlling treatment meted out by the occupation apparatus to those more inferior in the pecking order.
The recovering patients themselves, escorted by armed DCO officials, do not speak much. They only mention the number of hours they had to wait on the hard metal benches inside.
At a place where demonstration is forbidden and verbal protest is considered impunity liable for arrest, the solution is to yell anonymously at the wall.
And as Monty Python would have it, “Now for something completely different…”:
When I stopped at Jabar’s to buy vegetables, I felt he was hesitating to tell me something. I didn’t pressure him. When I left, Jabar came along and when we were along he said that someone living in settler-colony Adam, whose name is Ilai, owes him a lot of money.
“How much?” I asked. “Three-thousand shekels”, he said. And that every time Jabar calls him, that Ilai fellow hangs up.
I called Ilai from my own phone, introduced myself, and asked why he wouldn’t pay my friend what he owes him. “Do I owe you anything?” Ilai yelled. “It’s not me you owe”, and he repeated, “Do I owe you anything?” And I, again, “Not me”, and so on and so forth.
This non-conversation continued until Ilai said, “Listen, honey…” And I: “Honey?! Don’t you dare speak to me this way. I suggest you repay your debt as soon as possible.” ‘Why, do you represent him?” “Yes, I do.”
Ilai hung up.
No more than 10 seconds later, Jabar received a phone call from Ilai who was no longer yelling, but spoke softly and concluded the re-payment terms.
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 FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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