Qalandiya
Classic Qalandia
All five checking stations were open when we arrived at 5:30 a.m. and the lines were already extending deep into the parking lot. Five minutes later, the line discipline collapsed, the cages were rushed, and people began pushing and shouting in an attempt to enter them. The situation continued thus, on and off, throughout much of the morning. Lines loosely formed again at 5:52, for example, but soon broke again for another round of climbing, pushing, and shouting. The melee did not calm down until well after 6:00.
Two DCO officers arrived at about 6:00 and opened the Humanitarian Gate at 6:09. There was quite a crowd waiting there, but many of the people were laborers who are not permitted to avail themselves of the Humanitarian Gate, and it took quite a while to sort them out of the crowd by checking their permits.
At one point, one of the armed security guards came running through the “Palestinian” side of the checkpoint and out into the northern parking lot. Upon his return he explained to us that he had been sent out to unravel the traffic jam exacerbated by the fact that cars coming from Ramallah and a-Ram toward the vehicle checkpoint were driving in, and thus blocking, the lane of the cars and trucks coming in the opposite direction. This is a well-known problem; it has now developed to the point that security guards are being employed as traffic cops.
At 7:20 we joined one of the three lines through the “cages,” and it took us 30 minutes to exit the checkpoint.
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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