Qalandiya
On Monday the media announced that 5 Palestinians were injured in 2 shooting incidents at Qalandiya.
I came here to listen to the injured rather than be informed by the perpetrators.
An eye witness to the shooting of a man walking in the vehicle route, reported:
Once again they shot a person who is hard of hearing.
They yelled at him not to go through here, but he doesn’t hear. He fell and got up and walked and they shot again so he fell and did not get up any more. So they took him. I don’t know whether he is dead or not.
As to what happened at the refugee camp alleys that same morning, he said:
They shot a cousin of mine, a 15-year old, on his way to school. He was hit by a bullet here, in the leg (pointing to his thigh), his muscle is shot.
Like others, he said that what happened in the refugee camp is like war, there were many shots and the four people injured are hospitalized in Ramallah.
Later I saw the sign.
Not very prominent, and rather new.
What the sign does not say, as if meant to cover the shooters – is that whoever enters is doomed to be shot to death.
On the way back, at the checkpoint, as the sun was setting, a young mother arriving with her baby daughter sleeping in a pram, had to wake up her daughter, fold the pram and wind her way in through the turnstile bars towards the checking post. It’s not meant for prams, and in order to the that is, some soldier need press a button. And the soldiers behind the secured glass windows either didn’t see nor hear, or didn’t want to see and hear.
When I got arrived at the first checking post, suddenly the traffic stopped.
Facing the soldiers in their post stood a 50-year old woman, helpless, who was ordered by them again and again to pass her bags under the metal detector. Something in one of her plastic bags seemed to arouse their suspicion when photographed, so the bag had to keep passing time and again. After they called somewhere, they ordered the woman to come inside (without the bag) through a side door.
We kept standing in a line that kept winding, growing longer and thicker.
It’s not that there are no more checking posts or enough soldiers. There were. But neither were active.
After many minutes with us outside, the plastic bag on the metal detector belt as well as the woman disappeared, two policemen arrived, opened the bag, rummaged inside it, consulted, got the woman who had been locked up in a side room, crossed the checkpoint to the other side and disappeared.
Only then did the soldiers resume their duties, and checked those of us who had been forced to wait outside for about half an hour.
-What was in it? I asked a security guard standing across the checkpoint and ready to talk.
-She had kitchen knives in her bag, he said. The bag was returned to her and she was released.
מאוחר יותר ראיתי את השלט.
שלט לא מאד בולט ודי חדש.
מה שלא כתוב בו בשלט שהוא כמו נועד לכסות את ערוות היורים זה שמי שנכנס – דמו בראשו.
בדרך חזרה, במחסום, כשהשמש נטתה לשקוע, אם צעירה שהגיעה עם עגלה ובה תינוקת ישנה נאלצה להעיר את ילדתה, לקפל את העגלה ולהשתחל פנימה אל עמדת הבידוק דרך מוטות הקרוסלה. זה לא שאין דלת מיוחדת לעגלות, אבל כדי שזו תיפתח צריך מי מהחיילים ללחוץ על כפתור והם שמאחורי החלונות הממוגנים או לא ראו או לא שמעו או לא רצו לראות ולשמוע.
כשהגעתי אל מול עמדת הבידוק הראשונה לפתע חדלה התנועה.
מול עמדת החיילים עמדה חסרת אונים אישה כבת חמישים שנאלצה לפקודת החיילים להעביר שוב ושוב את חבילותיה מתחת למסוע המגנומטר. משהו באחת משקיות הניילון שלה נראה להם שעל המצלמות חשוד, והשקית העמוסה נסעה הלוך ושוב והלוך ושוב . אחרי שטילפנו לאי-שם צוו על האישה להיכנס (בלי השקית) מבעד לדלת צדדית.
נשארנו עומדים בתור שהלך והתארך, הלך והתעבה, הלך והתפתל.
זה לא שאין יותר עמדות בידוק או לא היו די חיילים. היו. אבל אלו גם אלו לא היו פעילים.
אחרי דקות ארוכות כשאנחנו בחוץ, השקית על המסוע והאישה נעלמה מעינינו, הגיעו שני שוטרים, פתחו את השקית, חיטטו בתכולתה, התייעצו, הוציאו את האישה שהייתה כלואה בחדר צדדי, עברו אל צדו האחר של המחסום ונעלמו מהעין.
רק אז חזרו החיילים לפעול ולבדוק אותנו שחיכינו מאונס בחוץ כמחצית השעה.
- מה היה שם? שאלתי מאבטח קל שיחה שעמד בצדו האחר של המחסום,
- היו לה בשקית סכינים של מטבח, אמר, החזירו לה את השקית ושחררו אותה.
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
See all reports for this place-
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-27-2026Qalandiya. Closure – Climbing over the fence
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