Qalandiya
We reached Qalandiya CP at about 3:50 PM and found three passageways operating with no lines to speak of. On the other hand, six men were waiting in Passageway 5 leading to the DCO offices. They claimed they had been waiting for two hours. We phoned headquarters and explained what was happening and before we closed the phone the turnstile opened and 4 of the 6 men were allowed to enter the examination area. Of the 2 remaining men, one was from Gaza. He approached us and told us that he had just completed chemotherapy at a hospital in Nablus and that the DCO had notified the hospital that a permit to transit Israel on his way to Gaza was waiting for him at the offices. On his release from hospital he had come straight to Qalandiya CP and had been waiting in line ever since. The man appeared to be very weak and was not looking very well. We couldn’t understand why he was being treated in this manner and we called headquarters immediately. They in turn called the soldiers in the passageway who opened the turnstile and let the last two men in.
One young man from the group of 4 who entered first came back out. When we asked him what had happened he told us that he had lost hisID card and had only a magnetic photo-ID card in hand. Once again we phoned and asked to speak with the DCO representative to request that she help the young man solve his problem. She said that she could not order the soldiers in the passageway to let someone in, only ask them, but she promised she would try. Our young man entered the examination area once again and this time, after Yardena’s intervention, he was allowed to continue into the DCO offices. It seems strange that the soldiers on duty make these decisions and cannot be overridden by officers of the DCO? We wanted to ask about this and also find out why the 6 men had been kept waiting on line. So I passed into Passageway 4 (served by the same 2 soldiers). But the soldiers in the “aquarium” to whom I presented my papers would not talk to me. They just checked my papers and looked at me without answering my questions. It was as if they were afraid they would be punished for speaking with someone from MW.
We waited a while until we saw the man from Gaza emerge from the DCO and get on line to enter Jerusalem. We left the CP when we saw he had gotten through.
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-12-2026Qalandiya. Abdallah at his fruit stand
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