Qalandiya
“Helping the bad guys”, a soldier hissed at me, returning with his buddies into the checkpoint after having finished their mission of firing teargas grenades at boys throwing stones and rolling burning tires and at people who unfortunately happened to be there.
The army left behind air filled with teargas and a chaos of traffic. Both lingered.
But they, the armed men of Duhifat battalion, Kfir Brigade, the soldiers and officers as well as the battalion commander’s front team*, couldn’t care less. They came, fired, and left.
For the long while it took to conduct the firing mission as well as later – all exit roads for vehicles from the West Bank were closed off, and the roundabout became sterile ground where no Palestinian foot was allowed to tread.
At the same time, in the pedestrian lane, policeman Menashe Chai photographed the IDs of whoever entered the West Bank. Well, not everyone. Just the Palestinians.
When Menashe was done his delaying and photographing duties, he turned towards the vehicle lane. There, without giving any reasons (a policeman does not give Palestinians reasons, but I do have my assumptions), he ordered a back-to-back procedure for “a very ill patient” as the medical team said, in the midst of the traffic lane rather than at the usual spot meant for medical patients transferred from one vehicle to another. Consequently traffic was stuck even more.
**
On my way home from Qalandiya I thought about the soldier who named me “helping the bad guys” and realized that bad and good, like the beautiful, are in the eyes of the beholder and associated with the place where one has chosen to be, just as “the place” (the Hebrew hamakom carries the added, weighty meaning of The Maker) chose the person who would be there, and I thought how wrong that soldier was, who does not know that I do not help nor come to help. In such cases I warn, and this time too I warned the boys and let them know who lurks for them and where.
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*Thanks to Sarit Michaeli for enlightening me about the army ranks.
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 FleishmanOct-11-2026Qalandiya. Female Beggar
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