Qalandiya, Mon 1.7.13, Afternoon
We reached Qalandiya at 15:50. Thre passageways were open but, for the first time in a long while, there were lines of 10 people waiting in each passageway and waiting time was quite long. We phoned one of the officers to ask what was happening and Amir told us, quite expectedly, that a new unit was on duty and the soldiers were learning the job and working slowly.
In one of the passageways, a 16 year-old girl (i.e. old enough to have her own ID card) was standing in front of the soldiers in the "aquarium" while her mother had gotten stuck in the turnstile. The girl was holding her mother's ID card and a photocopy of her own birth certificate (required of kids under 16). The soldiers were giving her a hard time, insisting that when they asked her how old she was she had lied about her age, etc. We phoned the DCO Representative and tried to have her talk to the girl's mother but the mother refused. In the end the soldiers called the police (3 appeared on the scene) who took the girl and her mother for questioning. We didn't see when they emerged and what happened.
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 FleishmanJul-21-2026Qalandiya. Conversation in the shadow of the wall
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