Qalandiya, Hizma - arbitrafy bureaucracy
For over a week now this house has been surrounded with black flags.
For over a week now the neighbors wake up every morning anxious that today is the day and that they are the next in line.
For over a week now a demolition order has been hanging over this house.
Crossing the checkpoint at this uncrowded hour, as the minutes tick away and waiting lines get longer and there is nothing else to do but count the minutes, and the people waiting quietly, always quietly, in both lines.
Within minutes thirty became forty who turned into fifty. It was no longer countable because the waiting lines had stretched towards the matching hall to the one where we were standing as the soldiers on the other side look at us and do not see us standing in front of them.
Further on, the inspection system is operated with two separate focal points:
- X-raying the person’s body and belongings
- Inspecting IDs and permits
All this operates in impeccable order, but then something somewhere goes wrong as a man, not young, hands the woman-soldier his ID and permit and from the other side hears that blood-curdling code: PREVENTED… -But… the man began, -prevented, she repeated, loudly.
The man is not hard of hearing. He has heard and understood it, and this is what has stick him in place as well as all those following him in line.
I asked the security guard for an explanation for the sudden prevention, and heard that it is not the soldier’s decision but the computer’s. What I have to say about this has already been said by the British:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJQ3TM-p2QI
At Hizma I learned that
- Rami’s dad got his car back and was fined 5,000 NIS but did not get back the tires he had in the car. Why? – They are used, and the confiscators thought that Rami and his dad meant to set them on fire and throw them at the soldiers.
- My car has four used tires and no one has yet to confiscate them from me.
- Last Monday the Israeli army blocked entrances to the village between 6 a.m and 10 p.m.
- Army vehicles patrols the streets at night as the soldiers fire teargas grenades. Why? –”you throw stones” say the soldiers.
- Nearly every night the army takes over a roof at the village outskirts, the family tries to carry on its life downstairs, but the noise and laughter from above ruin their nights and scare adults and children alike.
Army lingo calls is “straw widow” procedure.
Hizma
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Hizma
A checkpoint at the north-eastern entrance to the Jerusalem area which was annexed in 1967, at Pisgat Zeev. The passage is allowed to bearers of blue IDs only. Open 24 hours a day.
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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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