Qalandiya - crowding and congestion, long lines in freezing cold
A hard start to the year: crowds, collapse of queues, freezing cold. No sign of opening the new section in the near future.
05.15. Dark and freezing cold. Smell of smoke in the air from the little fires people make to keep warm while waiting for their transport. Large groups at prayer both next to the parking lot and at the Israel-side entrance to the checkpoint.
Inside the shed, in addition to the beigel seller and the falafel stall, is a cigarette stall set up by a young boy. The queues are contained within the shed. This seems to be today’s policy – to admit many people through the turnstiles each time, so that lines form in the ‘slalom’ area before the checking stations. Thus the lines waiting to enter the cages are kept inside the shed. But this means that there is a long wait between one opening of the turnstiles and the next, because otherwise the checking stations can’t keep up with the speed. As the morning advances, more and more people arrive and then the queues do reach beyond the shed. In the end, when the turnstiles open, there is a sudden rush and the lines collapse. Again there is the awful sight of people piling on one another, pushing and shouting … a dismal start to the new year.
Meanwhile many gather at the humanitarian gate, waiting for its customary late opening. When it does open the people entering there find it difficult to fit into the crowded lines in front of the checking stations. They wait at station no.5, where the line slowly advances.
We went out to buy tea at Iman’s now improved kiosk at the end of the checkpoint area. When we returned we saw that two officers of Military Police had arrived – but this did not improve the situation. We asked the D.C.O. officer when the new building was likely to open. In the past they spoke about a December opening – now the estimate is only in March …
Soon after 7 o’clock the lines are once again formed and the area in front of the humanitarian gate is empty – and the D.C.O. staff leave. But all the time more and more people arrive and turn to the gate – women, pupils, people with babies. We tell them it is closed, but some wait there and when they final leave others come. At one point we phoned to ask that the gate be opened and were told “We will try.” Shortly afterwards the D.C.O. soldier and guard arrive via the shed. The former comes to open the gate, while the guard remains behind. Loud calls “Bro, where are you?” and the guard makes his way through the crowd to join him. When they are there, immediately the ‘entitled’ who had been waiting in the regular lines rush to the humanitarian gate, and there is once again pressure there.
At about 7.40 we joined one of the lines. Once we past the turnstile we waited in the slalom area to pass at checking station no.1. Passage took 30 minutes.
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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