Qalandiya
A morning of deepening despair
Only four checking stations were open when we arrived at 5:25 a.m. and all were working agonizingly slowly, at that. Whereas the lines were confined to inside the shed when we entered, they built up steadily before our eyes, especially as the turnstile of one of the three cages was not opening so that cage was empty. At 5:40 checking station # 3 closed and #5 opened, but that still left the checkpoint one station short.
At 6:00 the lines reached halfway through the parking lot, and ten minutes later the line discipline broke altogether and the standard melee ensued. The reason, it seems, was that the formerly closed turnstile at the end of cage #1 began to operate, people rushed to enter that formerly empty cage, and that seemed to serve as a signal for everyone to rush forward. Essentially, a misunderstanding that took the better part of half an hour to correct.
But the correction did not last long, either, for at 7:08 the line discipline broke for the second time – this out of sheer frustration with queue-jumpers . For two of the three lines, the situation righted itself within about 10 minutes. Still, this is the first time in our memory that the line discipline broke twice in one morning, which (in addition to the slow progress forward all morning) was a reason for the deepening despair expressed those who approached us on the issue.
At 6:25 a Civil Administration soldier arrived and opened the Humanitarian Gate, where some 15 people were waiting, and he continued to operate the gate properly for as long as we could see him. At 7:30 we lost eye contact with him, so we cannot say for how long he kept the gate open. However, when we were again able to see the area by the Humanitarian Gate, at 8:10, he was gone.
At 7:30 we joined one of the lines going through the cages and it took us 50 minutes (!) to exit the checkpoint. Forty of them were spent approaching and inside one of the cages. When we finally left the cage, checking station #3 closed again, causing a further backup in all the lines of people waiting to transit the checkpoint – and this was already after 8:00 a.m.
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 FleishmanOct-11-2026Qalandiya. Female Beggar
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