Qalandiya - a young Palestinian woman was shot on Saturday
Chronicle of a fore-known murder
It’s a bloody checkpoint, Qalandiya. Many men and women have been murdered here in those few square meters. People are not shot to be stopped. They’re shot there to be killed.
The last one in a long line of murder victims is Ibtisam Ka’abana, a young Palestinian woman who was shot on Saturday around noon, June 12, 2021, fell down on the asphalt and lay in her own blood until she died.
The asphalt on which Ibtisam’s blood was shed, as was the blood of many Palestinian men and women before her is mute. It does not know how to tell whether they shouted as they died, or sighed, or called out for their mom or their children or perhaps their god.
But there many witnesses to this event on Saturday, witnesses who saw her lying in her own blood and could not do a thing to help her or drag her out of the line of fire. Why? Because the gates of the checkpoint for vehicles and for pedestrians were closed.
Furthermore – from both sides came ambulances that were not allowed to come close and offer help to the woman lying there in her own blood, neither to the Jerusalem ambulance nor to the one from Ramallah.
For two and a half hours or more, the checkpoint was closed.
Yes, at the entrance is sign saying only vehicles are allowed through, but it does not say that the penalty for any pedestrian entering it is an execution. It does not say that anyone not riding a car is doomed to die.
There was or was not a knife present. That would not be a fact, certainly not the main one. The main thing is that one person, armored, one of many, armed with a rifle, shot many bullets at the target in order to kill a helpless woman.
Many shots were fired, all to the upper body of Ibtisam, said witnesses, none of whom noticed a knife – present in the authorities’ version.
I heard bang-bang-bang… Many times, said one.
I counted seven shots, said another.
Why did Ibtisam, who lives far away in a Jericho refugee camp, come to the Qalandiya Checkpoint?
The answer can only be surmised. Ibtisam can no longer be asked.
But clearly, the shooters could have overtaken this woman and all the others shot there with a kick or a shot at the leg of the person who scares them, whom they choose to kill with authority and permission.
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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