Qalandiya
Infant waited half an hour for the Humanitarian Gate to open
Once again, only four of the five checking stations were open when we arrived at 5:30 in the morning and the lines reached halfway to the road in the narrow corridor created by tin walls outside. The progress forward into the checking stations was – almost as usual at this time of the morning – very slow. And the soldier in the booth responsible for opening the turnstiles at the end of each of the three “cages” – between naps from which he was awoken by loud calls from the people waiting in line or by us rapping on the bars with a coin – wisely allowed many, many people through each time he opened the turnstiles, so that lines remained relatively short through the end of his shift at 6:15. And they remained so through the shift of his successor because of his strategy on opening the turnstiles, as well as the fact that the pace of work in the checking stations improved and station number 5 opened up sometime after 6:00.
In contrast, the main issue this morning was with the Humanitarian Gate, which was not opened until 6:33, despite the fact that we twice called the DCO hotline to report that infants (the first of whom arrived at 6:05) on their way to the hospital were waiting at the gate. By the time the DCO soldier and a security guard arrived at 6:33, most of the people, having waited at least 20+ minutes, had despaired of them ever arriving , joined the lines going through the cages, only to rush back to the gate when they finally did show up. We have no complaints against the soldier or the security guard, who arrive at the checkpoint from elsewhere. However, we can’t understand why they are not dispatched from their earlier when we know that people on their way to hospitals, schools, etc. start lining up at the Humanitarian Gate at 6:00.
At 6:45, when the cages were half empty, we joined the shortest of the lines through them and were through the security check in less than 10 minutes. As we stood in the cage, the DCO soldier and security guard approached us to ask who we were (it seems they had never heard of MachsomWatch) and invited us, as women, to take advantage of the Humanitarian Gate. But when we explained to them that our passage through the cages is deliberate, they nodded and walked away.
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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