Qalandiya: Bad! gray, harsh, desperate routine.
Bad!
Like a refrain, like a broken record I keep coming back to the same places at the same times, to the same people, and every time different echoes of the same reality that tells itself keep coming, sounded or soundless.
The common thing to all the stories is the heading, while the content keeps getting filled with changing and accumulating details.
Bad, one says with one’s full mouth. Bad! say the people’s eyes. Bad, say children and boys soundlessly, who try to be vendors and smile for a wee moment at the camera and then get back to their gray, harsh, desperate routine.
But bad as it got this time I hadn’t witnessed before:
Next to the wall separating the road to the refugee camp and the one leading to checkpoint, an elderly man supporting himself with a cane walked slowly. He made step after hesitating step along the wall. After every few steps he turned to his left and with bare hands rummaged the piles of waste at the foot of the wall. (No waste bins in public spaces – the garbage just piles up at the sides of the road). The man rummaged the growing piles, and then his eye caught some bitten food, a kind of ground meat. He stretched out a hand to the ‘find’, raised it to see its state, stuck it in his mouth and chewed.
Some ways away, in a street corner, where several men stand or sit, some of them cab drivers, others not, a kind of street parliament I share with them at times sitting and at others standing – they tell a lot, ask many questions, and mainly hope for better days, believing that conditions could not be worse than they are now, say they see Netanyahu as the one responsible, as I do.
People got together, asked me to photograph them and bring them their picture. One of them, an old acquaintance, walked away saying “I will not be photographed, I am a wanted man”. He said and was not aware that I felt complimented by his trust.
Before leaving, one of them asked me:
– Are you not afraid?
– Of what?
– To come here.
– No.
– But Israelis are afraid, aren’t you?
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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