Qalandiya
About the (nature of) apparatus of oppression:
Near the Qalandiya refugee camp an acquaintance of mine from the camp told me that three weeks and some days ago a Shabaq (Israeli secret services) intelligence officer named Daoud announced that those from Qalandiya refugee camp who are blacklisted (prevented by the Shabaq or police from entering Israel) who wish to revoke their blacklisting (who doesn’t?) are to report to the DCO offices at the checkpoint.
Daoud also added that the Shabaq people know that they, the guys from Qalandiya, are good guys and the Shabaq really wants to help them.
Whenever I hear that the Shabaq wants to help someone I get suspicious and anxious.
It is highly likely that they too, the guys from Qalandiya, got suspicious and anxious, but their lives – without a crumb of hope – are no lives at all. So they came, the man said, they turned up the next morning, crowds of them, maybe a thousand.
They were registered, their phone numbers were written down, and were promised an answer within two weeks.
It’s been three weeks now and some days. The Shabaq never called. Nor did Daoud.
What I learned from a friend living in Yatta (Palestinian town in the South Hebron Hills) who heard this from me was that this is precisely what the Shabaq did in Hebron. Same Shabaq, same Daoud.
***
When all the ill patients from Gaza and their accompaniers were already sitting in their transport vehicle and the Civil Administration man had already handed the Palestinian coordinator from Gaza the whole pack of IDs and permits, like someone getting cleared of a pack of people, I turned to him:
-“May I ask you something?”
-“Yes.”
-“Do you also give these ill people something to eat or drink as they wait for hours in front of your offices?”
As if struck by lightning, the man turned his back and walked away.
-“I was speaking to you, not to your back.”
-“You should address this question to the public inquiries department”, he muttered and was swallowed in the dark inside.
-“Bastards, said a man who witnessed this pseudo-conversation. “They give nothing. Nothing since morning. Nothing.”
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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