Qalandiya
Very Easy Morning
All five checking stations were open and there were no lines as the turnstile at the end of one of the “cages” was open to all comers when I arrived at the checkpoint at 6:30. The beigale seller said that the same had been true earlier in the morning, and so it remained until I left at 8:00. A DCO officer was present but it was not necessary to open the Humanitarian Gate, except for when a man arrived in a wheelchair, whereupon the officer opened it immediately for him and those accompanying him.
At 7:00 the group arrived. It consisted of 12 people of all ages (no children, of course); was organized by the Sharq travel agency in Germany in cooperation with the Heinrich Boll Foundation; and was traveling in both Palestine and Israel. I briefed the group about the operation of the checkpoint, as well as the activities of MachsomWatch. The group was alert, asked interesting questions, and we parted with an understanding to remain in contact with its leader, who happens to be studying in Israel, with an eye to briefing future groups. I also told them about our English-language tours and invited them to take part in them in the future. The request for the meeting and briefing at Qalandiya came in an email address to the MachsomWatch Tours address.
At 8:00 I walked directly through one of the cages to a checking station, which I likewise passed through immediately.
Although traffic was light through the pedestrian checkpoint, the morning traffic jam through the vehicle checkpoint seemed to be particularly bad this morning. Heavy trucks moving in both directions spent much of the morning sounding their horns in frustration. Walking back to the parking lot on the southern side of the checkpoint I noticed that the traffic jam also extended to cars traveling north through the checkpoint in the direction of A-Ram and Ramallah.
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-27-2026Qalandiya. Closure – Climbing over the fence
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