Qalandiya
A ’reasonable’ morning at Qalandiya.
05.20. There were relatively few people on the Israel side, for a Ramadan day. People came out of the checkpoint slowly. Once inside we found almost no queues. As tomorrow will be the last fast day, to be followed by Eid el-Fitr, we thought that perhaps people had already started their holiday. Later it turned out that many simply started their day late.
Four checking stations were open. The lines were not long and did not extend out of the shed. At 6 o’clock the humanitarian gate did not open, but at that stage there was no need as everyone could join the regular lines without trouble. After 6, the fifth checking station also opened.
Outside we saw a new roadway is being paved, looking like a driveway around a circle. It seems that in future traffic will come from the direction where there are now the concrete blocks set as entrances for Ramadan, passengers will alight, and then continue. It is not clear if there will be a parking lot. Within the area of the checkpoint, there is building going on, and has grown a second floor …
At about 6.30 we joined one of the lines. But suddenly a crowd arrived and the lines then reached outside the shed, so we decided to wait till they emptied. At 6.35 the D.C.O. officer and a guard arrived and opened the humanitarian gate. Right away, women and other ‘entitled’ ones who had been in the regular lines rushed over to the gate .
By 7 o’clock the lines were once again short, and we joined one. From a distance we saw the D.C.O. soldier and the guard helping someone in a wheelchair through the special gates next to the turnstiles. We did not see if they returned to open the Humantarian gate, but there did not seem to be a need. From what we read in Hanna Barag’s report, we learned that later there were long lines and heavy pressure, because of people making their way to Jerusalem for the end of Ramadan.
In front of us in the line for the checking station was an elderly woman. Everyone kept telling her that she would not be allowed to pass before 8 o’clock, but she persisted. In the end she passed the turnstile together with us, but the soldier in the station told her to go back and wait until 8 …. Us, on the other hand, she received with a friendly “how’re things?” it took 30 minutes to pass.
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 FleishmanJun-8-2025Qalandiya: Emptiness in public space
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