Qalandiya
4 pm –There were very few people at the CP when we arrived: three passageways were operating with 5 people standing in line in each one. No one was waiting in the DCO shed. At the western end of the CP we could see that the line for bus passengers was very long. We counted at least 30 people standing there. During the beginning of our shift, there were no special problems but at about 4:30 PM we saw a woman (of about 40) with her young daughter (about 14) coming out of passageway 4 after the soldier on duty refused them entry to Israel. It turned out that the two were from the Gaza Strip and that the daughter had been hospitalized for an operation in Ramallah. She had just been released from hospital and the two were trying to make their way home to Gaza. The soldiers on duty had not opened the DCO passageway for them to apply for entry permits and so they had tried their luck in passageway 4 without permits. A young Palestinian man was also standing in the passageway. He was an employee of the PA and had come to see his father safely through the CP (also on his way home to Gaza). He immediately signed on to help the woman and her daughter, making phone calls to anyone who could help. We did the same, mainly trying to make contact with the DCO representative somewhere in the CP. We finally contacted an officer named Yarden who got the two women into the DCO offices where they were issued the proper permits. (So it’s not clear who was responsible for achieving the desired result, the Palestinian man or the MW team.) In any event, the two women returned to passageway 4 with the appropriate papers but the (female) soldier in the “aquarium” did not let them through immediately but shouted at them in Hebrew (which they did not understand) and made them take off their shoes, walking around barefoot on the freezing floor (even though the daughter had just been released from hospital and looked quite weak). We phoned Yarden once again and she promised to speak to the soldier. And finally the two got through the CP and were on their way home. We left Qalandiya at 5 pm.
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 FleishmanMay-13-2025Qalandiya: Back-to-back procedure for transferring patients
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