Qalandiya
They haven’t come yet, the taxi driver told me. Why? No idea. The bus coordinator didn’t know either. Nor did they arrive during the half-hour I waited with the Red Crescent team for the West Bank ambulance that was late coming with a cancer patient. When the Nablus ambulance finally arrived we learned that the patient we were waiting for and the ambulance he was riding were held up by traffic jams. He is a two-year old child with abdominal cancer, so little that the stretcher was not even necessary. The child was passed over from his mother’s arms to the arms of the Red Crescent team member and was returned to his mother’s lap when she boarded and sat in the Jerusalem ambulance.
But even then they still had not arrived, nor did the transport designated for Gazan patients headed for home. Perhaps this was because the Erez Crossing into the Gaza Strip is still closed, by orders of the Minister of Defense who made an arbitrary decision without even giving the slightest pretext, a decision that only increases the suffering and misery of the few who are allowed to travel from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.
But no one settles any accounts with the persons who perpetrate all this suffering.
About an hour-and-a-half later, as I returned to the same spot and witnessed the back-to-back transfer between two ambulances of two women victims of a traffic accident that had occurred at Kufr ‘Aqeb, two bullies in civilian clothes blocked the road leaving to the West Bank in the middle of the vehicle crossing of the checkpoint, stopped a truck carrying cabinet parts, directed it towards the inner space of the checkpoint, inspected the documents of the vehicle and the driver and the two fellows along with him and accused them of carrying waste.
The driver, although he had no idea who the people stopping him were and by what authority they were doing so, answered every question and accusation and said that he purchased everything he was carrying on the truck legally and that no, this was not waste – what he had there in back.
The two rummaged among the plywood plates on the truck, searched and searched and when not finding anything incriminating, and perhaps too on account of the presence of (my) camera – but then perhaps not – they let the driver proceed.
One can only ask:
- Does wearing a phosphorescent cap saying “security” give one the right to delay, harass and make up stories about a person?
- If they act on behalf of…, are they not obliged to say on behalf of whom this takes place?
The two did not identify themselves to the fellows on the truck, not to me when I asked.
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-28-2026Qalandiya. The bridge leading from Jerusalem to the Qalandiya checkpoint
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