Qalandiya
The patients on their way home to Gaza were already seated in their designated transport, waiting to get on their way.
I boarded among them, feeling it was important for me to spend even a short while with them. This contact is important for me, especially with the children, lasting at times mere minutes, or even seconds. A look, a touch, a smile.
Trying to upend the constant equation of any contact with Israeli meaning a threat, any Israeli in uniform and armed…
While inside the vehicle I witnessed a reversal of roles.
What happened was that two Civil Administration uniformed officials showed up and summoned the Gazan manager, but he, deep inside the vehicle, did not hear them. They were standing on the steps, their eyes expressing either embarrassment or fear, not daring to actually enter the vehicle, and yelling instead. It was strange to see the threateners feeling threatened for once.
Over the years I have witnessed soldiers afraid of an angry crowd, of young demonstrators, or protesting women. But soldiers afraid of weakened, ill patients? Never before.
***
True, one needs a visa to enter the US, and true, Americans need a visa to enter Israel, but there is a different between needing a visa to enter Israel, here, and enter Palestine, not here. It’s like the difference between holders of a blue (Israeli) identity card and holders of a green (Palestinian) identity card. While a blue ID holder is permitted to move freely inside Israel as well as the West Bank, a green ID holder is limited to the Palestinian territories. Same with the visas.
I never really thought about this until I met Amjad, a Chicago-born American visiting Ramallah who came to Qalandiya Checkpoint – as a Muslim seeking to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque – and was blocked. Amjad holds an entry visa to the West Bank, not to Israel “proper”, and Al Aqsa, as is well-known, is “ours” (Israeli). The soldier blocking him suggested he go to the DCO and request a special permit for this special purpose. The time was minutes past 4 p.m. and the offices were already locked and deserted. Perhaps he’ll return tomorrow. Or maybe not.
What is this like? Like a Jewish tourist from the US who has entered Israel and wishes to pray at the Cave of the Fathers in Hebron, and goes there. Would he be stopped mid-way, have his tourist visa to Israel checked, and be prevented from reaching Hebron and praying there? Never…
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 FleishmanApr-16-2025Qalandiya: summer fruit
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