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Qalandiya - a woman-soldier is chasing away the Palestinians still waiting, and locks the gate.
Observers: Tamar Fleishman; Translator: Tal H.
It’s a holiday with no holiday celebrations, and a new checkpoint with nothing new about it.
True, most businesses and shops in the Qalandiya refugee camp are shut in honor of this Holiday of Sacrifice, but the atmosphere that reigns is of ‘normal’ workdays, not holidays.
The conversation piece of the day was the confiscation of Shadi’s vehicle on alleged grounds of taking passengers’ fare.
Shadi is a cab driver without a cab license.
How do they know he doesn’t charge fare? No one, after all, except the few informants who benefit from being informants volunteers to tell them what is being done. So they stop the vehicle and ask the passengers, who keep silent at first, but after being threatened by being blacklisted and/or having their permit revoked, acquiesce and confess.
Now Shadi’s vehicle is confiscated for a month. Then he will stand trial, be convicted, and fined for some thousands of shekels and on conditional prison term for two years or more.
True, the new checkpoint structure shines, true – a guest for a moment might imagine he has entered a modern, efficient plant.
But as for the treatment of the thousands of Palestinians who must arrive there, stand in line and obey the soldiers’ orders and undergo inspection, it’s all old news.
Then as now, they are rushed among different tracks, waiting lines grow longer and people who had stood first in line find themselves at the tail end, again and again.
It’s better now, said the policeman in praise of the checkpoint, now there’s hardly any friction with them (the Palestinians…).
And I know that “hardly any friction with them” is precisely what turns them, the Palestinians, into the non-present. One needs to actually see, touch, listen and smell humans to know they exist.
Further, deeper into the checkpoint compound, to the DCO offices – the time is 15:40, namely 20 whole minutes prior to official closing time. A woman-soldier is actually chasing away the Palestinians still waiting, and locks the gate.
-But it’s not 4 o’clock yet, I argued.
-We close early today.
-Have you notified the Palestinians of this change?
She shrugged and vanished.
-But my wife needs a permit for the hospital…, a young man tried.
-I was notified that my permit is ready here, please take it from the desk and give it to me, another one tried.
But they, as others, had to make do with the soldier’s shrug and “come tomorrow”…
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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