Qalandiya
“Netanyahu is your and our tragedy, Sinwar is our and your tragedy”
said a man standing with me for a friendly talk at a street corner.
I came at the sliver of time between the closing down of the checkpoint and the barred thoroughfares and was told that times now are even more limited – closing off the pedestrian checkpoint has been pushed back to 5 p.m.
I heard from acquaintances about the despair and the closure that has been ongoing now for over four months, and about the lack of livelihood and food and about the villages and town throughout the West Bank that are all closed off, and that to get here, to Qalandiya, in order to work as vendors, one must sneak and use bypass tracks and go through Hebron. I saw a 14-year-old boy (in the photo) trying to make a few shekels, and couldn’t help thinking about another boy of the same age, who at another checkpoint was defined as a terrorist and was shot and killed, (https://13tv.co.il/item/news/politics/security/e2sqn-903921785), and I thought how much despair there is, no horizon, no bit of light at the end of the tunnel, all of which drive him, his family and friends, to the point where a desperate child takes a knife and comes to face armed men.
This child is only an example of many many others, grownups and children alike, for clearly anyone observing them realizes that the state of things in the West Bank is about to reach a violent, bleeding explosion.
Walls are bound to fall and partitions to crumble. Some crumble because of the power of resistance of the people against whom they were erected, like that barrier which restricts human passage and sends people hundreds of meters away to a detour. Here is the top part of the metal barrier that fell or was made to fall, to the delight of many, including my own.
On my way back, between here and there, four armed men (two policemen, a security guard and a soldier at the inspection post) took away my ID, blocked my way, lied to me that I wasn’t allowed to stand at the Palestinian side of the checkpoint because (that’s what they said) of an edict issued by the regional commander that forbids it, and I have violated it. If that is not enough, the senior policeman started vulgarly expressing his opinion that I’m not normal, I need psychiatric help etc. etc. “Write down all her coordinates and open an official event page”, he instructed his subordinate. “I took them down, I opened a file” the subordinate answered him subserviently. Which means that somewhere in the police files there’s a complaint about my invented violation.
No doubt the event is one of the typical signs of the time. No doubt, all these people want – who faced me, armed – is to placate the boss. This is the spirit of the present Internal ‘Security’ Minister.
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 FleishmanFeb-16-2026Qalandiya CP: shortcut
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