Qalandiya
Anger and Despair
The Qalandia checkpoint is neither built nor equipped to accommodate the number of people who may pass through it on a standard morning on their way to work, to school, to a hospital, etc., so that the passage through it turns into a daily punishment.
All checking stations were open when we arrived at 5:30 a.m. but the lines were already reaching up to the third row of cars in the parking lot, the progress forward was especially slow – and so the situation remained until after 6:00.
At 65:58 a DCO officer arrived, opened the Humanitarian Gate, and continued to operate it each time a group gathered before it until about 7:00, when he left and the gate remained orphaned. Neither did the police and security guards on site make any attempt to inform the people newly gathered before it whether he was likely to return, and then they too left. The one policewoman who remained on site was closed inside the “Aquarium” and related to no one.
At 6:18, as the result of one or more men trying to “jump the queue” and enter the “cage” on the left through the gap by its entrance, the line discipline collapsed, with all the usual effects, and the scene at the entrances to all three cages dissolved into chaos for about three-quarters of an hour. The lines began to re-form after 7:00 and then again reached out to the second line of cars in the parking lot.
The anger and despair this morning was directed to us, as well. One gentlemen informed us that in another four years “we will overcome you and finish you off,” which is written in some scripture or another. It’s quite unpleasant to hear such things when the speaker is looking us straight in the eye and knows who we are and why we’re there.
The coffee man told us that he has been approached by a DCO officer who informed him that he will have to move his kiosk due to the renovations scheduled to begin whenever (he was unable to tell us a date).
At 7:25 we joined the end of one of the lines in the parking lot, and it took us 45 minutes to reach the exit to the checkpoint. We recalled that a few weeks back a DCO officer told us that during the renovations at Qalandiya, things will get worse before they get better. It’s hard to imagine a situation worse than the present one.
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 FleishmanNov-30-2025Qalandiya: Puddles and dirt after the rain
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