Qalandiya checkpoint
On the Prophet’s Birthday, colorful sweets are bought in hopes of sweetening the day.
Everyone – buyers, sellers and the photographer – knows that food coloring and sugar are not enough to sweeten, beautify or fill hungry bellies.
How hungry? Opposite the Qalandiya refugee camp, next to the kebab stand, a young man turned to me respectfully – I had known him years ago as a child, as a youth, and now he has turned into a young man – and asked whether I could give him 5 shekels of which he is short in order to buy a kebab. He had never asked before, always welcomed me with a warm greeting. Today hunger overtook niceness. Today he too is hungry.
The raids of Jerusalem municipality’s supervisors on venders in the northern entrance to the checkpoint have distanced the vending children and boys and they have situated themselves on the roadside opposite the center of the refugee camp.
Even though the school year began last week in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, and although most children go to school in the morning, quite a few of those who work here do not. One need not be a detective to know where the child lives, like the girl whose home is in Qalqiliya, or the children whose home is in Samu’a, and since the laws of nature do not let a person be in two different and distant places at the same time, clearly these, like others, are fated to be nourished with ignorance and ‘street smarts’.
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
See all reports for this place-
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 FleishmanJul-21-2026Qalandiya. Conversation in the shadow of the wall
-
