Qalandiya - A physician responsible for a very sick woman’s survival was not allowed to pass
On the International Holocaust Memorial Day – no comparison intended – amidst the barbed wire and concrete barriers, in a reality of selections of people disappearing as if they did not exist –
A motionless body of a woman on artificial ventilation was swung and transferred between two ambulances in the middle of the vehicular checkpoint.
A medical team from the West Bank brought the woman and a medical team from East Jerusalem received her.
As this back-to-back procedure was concluded, armed military and civilian personnel rummaged through the woman’s belongings, and only when satisfied that the woman and her luggage would not jeopardize the security of the State of Israel was the ambulance allowed to drive her away.
A West Bank physician responsible for the ventilation machine’s orderly function and the woman’s survival accompanied her but was not allowed to continue looking after beyond the Qalandiya Checkpoint and had to leave her and turn back. Why??
- Because as I have said and written and yelled dozens if not hundreds of times, in this place human lives are not top priority. First come procedures according to which – and only according to them – this place is run. And whoever has not equipped themselves in advance with the proper permits to cross the line between here and there is not permitted to continue saving the life of her, she who has come from “there”.
Near the refugee camp, among old and new acquaintances, a restless man whom I’ve known for a long time told me that on Saturday night his cousin Sami was driving with some friends. Near the Etzyon settler-colony bloc soldiers stopped their car, inspected the IDs of all the passengers, and after a while returned them – to all except Sami, whom they ordered to get out of the car, shackled him and took him without any explanation why, for how long, or where.
Ever since Sami has disappeared/been kidnapped, the family is going berserk and has no idea what has happened to him.
I connected Sami’s cousin with the Center for the Safety of the Individual who promised to act and inform the family. Time will tell.
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 FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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