Qalandiya - a woman soldier in the DCO: I don’t care. Come tomorrow.
An ambulance arrived from Jerusalem and joined the ambulance coming from Tubas (in the northern West Bank) to transfer a 25-day-old baby-girl one day after heart surgery performed at the (Jerusalem) Makassed Hospital.
“She doesn’t look too good” said the paramedic accompanying the infant and her mother. “She is filled with medication, that’s why she has this bluish color. After she undergoes treatment at Tubas with all kinds of antibiotics, she’ll be brought back to Muqassad, to continue surgical procedures. Let’s hope for the best.”
I am not fluent in medical terminology and the medication mentioned by the paramedic, but I realize and am sure that being passed from one ambulance to another must not take place anywhere by no one, certainly not an infant whose age is still counted in days, that a person is not goods to be transferred from one vehicle to another in a ‘back-to-back’ procedure, and must not be detained even for moment on her way to get optimal treatment without the intervention of the secret services and the presence of guns.
On my way back, in front of the checking post, a man asked me how to get to the DCO, he needs to ask for something, and showed me a pile of documents. Come with me, I said, we’ll go together.
We went together.
The shed in front of the DCO offices was filled with people crowding against the metal bars separating here from there, people who might not get to those who determine what’s what and those who arrive not knowing whether they would receive an answer or be rejected.
I did not try to make my way among people in order to get in. I stood by the back wall and watched them crowd.
- It’s terrible, I said.
- Terrible? Commented the man standing next to me. You should come at 8 a.m., then you’d see what’s really terrible.
The man standing next to me had come at 8 a.m. that day, he also came at 8 a.m. the previous day, and might be here at 8 a.m. tomorrow. One of the times he did manage to get inside and attracted the girl-soldier’s attention, asking her to listen to what he had to say, only to hear: I don’t care. Come tomorrow.
So today is yesterday’s tomorrow, tomorrow is today’s, and the day after will tomorrow’s tomorrow, and again and again, until when?
The man does not ask anything that is so difficult to provide – all he needs for his modest request to be met is a bit of good will and a signature on the relevant form. But good will is not a part of the toolbox the soldiers receive from the army, and this man like many others will come again tomorrow to try his luck.
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 FleishmanJun-8-2025Qalandiya: Emptiness in public space
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