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Qalandiya
Observers: Nili Fisher, Orit Dekel, Michal Winer, Ofra Tene (reporter and photographer), Iva A. (translator)
"My grandmother does not do terrorist attacks"
This is what the soldier woman, posted in the bunker in Qalandiya, told us when we asked her to do an exception to the rule of Friday, and open the humanitarian gate for two women, one of them an old woman with cast on her leg, and the other old and frail and could hardly stand on her feet. "imagin she was your grandmother" we told her, and this was her answer.
We had arrived by 09:00. The filthy area was full from wall to wall. There was only one grumpy woman soldier in the bunker, no DCO representative, no humanitarian line, but at least all the searching units active. The turnstiles move at a regular rate and those going for prayers, many of them old men and women, stand low in the cages. Every once in a while there is a call on the loudspeaker – the woman soldier announces which lane is openned. "thanks to the soldiers who woke up at three in the morning and did not have breakfast you are standing here" she lashes at us (no, we are here thanks to the occupation, we tell her. And really, why should the soldiers not get breakfast, and should the young patriotic energetic miss have to cope all alone with the unbearable situation in Qalandiya checkoint on Friday?) We are her enemy.
The people who stand in line tell us that it will be an hour until they go through the whole track. We already know that the IDF measures the time from the passage of the turnstiles, until they went through the documents' checkup, and they – the experts – are happy with the results they got from the shortenned trails they decided to measure. We call the DCO asking them to send a representative to open the humanitarian gate.
"I will check it at the checkpoint" the woman soldiers who spoke with us sais. After a while, we call again. "A DCO representative had been there between eight and nine" says the soldier who refuses to tell us her name, and she is apparently lying, since the representative of the foreign observers who has been here since eight o'clock tells us that there was nobody, and the rude treatment of the bunker lady was obvious already then. "so people need a representative now, when they go to pray, and not at eight"' we claim.
"Friday there is no DCO representative" she teaches us, and we, having been here longer than any patriotic soldier, and have seen that sometimes there is a representative, sometimes not, sometimes even more than one, and sometimes they are even polite and helpful, which means – doing their job for the civil population. "And I am not going to have this conversation with you" she ends the talk.
"I will check it at the checkpoint" the woman soldiers who spoke with us sais. After a while, we call again. "A DCO representative had been there between eight and nine" says the soldier who refuses to tell us her name, and she is apparently lying, since the representative of the foreign observers who has been here since eight o'clock tells us that there was nobody, and the rude treatment of the bunker lady was obvious already then. "so people need a representative now, when they go to pray, and not at eight"' we claim.
"Friday there is no DCO representative" she teaches us, and we, having been here longer than any patriotic soldier, and have seen that sometimes there is a representative, sometimes not, sometimes even more than one, and sometimes they are even polite and helpful, which means – doing their job for the civil population. "And I am not going to have this conversation with you" she ends the talk.The crowded line makes the old woman try and push through the line, and there is a fight and shouts. Difficult scenes.
There is an old lady, accompanied by her daughter and endless number of plastic bags, and an old lady with cast on her leg. They make us contact the angry soldier in the bunker, and the DCO representative at the other side of the phone . Orit demands the DCO representative to send a representative. The soldier makes her amusing grandmother's remark and tells the old lady to talk to us "they will help you". But to our delight she also makes the gates open. "only those two women. tell them". At the end she agrees to let the daughter who accompanies her mother with all the bags to go with her mother.
10:30 – the waiting line shrank, and we went 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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