Qalandiya
The Height of Failure
The Qalandiya checkpoint is neither built nor equipped to accommodate the number of people who are may pass through it on a standard morning on their way to work, to school, to a hospital, etc., and so the passage through it turns into a daily punishment.
The Humanitarian Gate opened at 6:13 and was operated properly by DCO soldiers who do their work well and with care.
Everything else about this morning reeked of failure. Although all five checking stations were open when we arrived at 5:30, the pace of forward progress was very slow, and the lines already reached into the parking lot. Ten minutes later the line discipline collapsed and the scene reverted to people pushing and shouting at the entrances to the “cages,” while the rest either crowded around them or pulled back for fear of bodily harm. This situation prevailed for the better part of an hour and a quarter until the lines slowly began to form again at about 7:00 – and even then only two out of the three.
![IMG_1729[1]_0.JPG](https://www.machsomwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_17291_0-scaled.jpg)
The situation at the entrance to the cage on the left invites calamity because it virtually tempts people to jump the queue – which was the reason for the lines to collapse in the first place.
From our standpoint, it’s unnecessary to elaborate here beyond the first sentence of this report.
![IMG_1733[1]_0.JPG](https://www.machsomwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_17331_0-scaled.jpg)
We joined one of the re-formed lines at 7:30 — theoretically at the end of the morning “rush hour” –and it took us 60 minutes to get through the checkpoint. This is, without a doubt, a record during our seven years of monitoring the Qalandia checkpoint.
A year ago we read and heard a lot of self-serving hokum from government ministers about the deplorable state of the checkpoints and decisions to invest millions of shekels in improving them for the benefit of the Palestinians who pass through them daily. At Qalandia, to date, the only change we have seen is the widening of the “cages” by a few centimeters, and even then not necessarily for the better. Half of the benches have disappeared.
![IMG_1717[1]_0.JPG](https://www.machsomwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_17171_0-scaled.jpg)
One of them has left behind a large piece of metal sticking up through the floor that is a menace to anyone walking through the checkpoint. And nobody gives a hoot. The only message broadcast there is one of sheer contempt. Shameful.
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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