Qalandiya, Mon 18.10.10, Morning
Qalandiya at 6:30 and found hundreds of desperate people either pushing to get in to the cage or siitting on one of the benches that are still left, with a desolate expression on their faces When we arrived the Humanitarien gate was empty , but it filled up with a long line of students , women, older people and babies with mothers or fathers on their way to get some medical treatment.. and it stayed closed for over 25 min.
The lines moved very slowly and the pushing was unbarable. One youn woman almost fainted and had to be lead away and a small girl was squashed and started screaming and her father who tried to go through the Hum. gate and could not get there, tried calling the DCO officer, who did not listen ,told him to be quiet and a big fight with the policeman errupted. The atmosphere was tense, the waiting long, and it seems that the bottle neck was in the security
checking. I called the DCO man three times, he was very polite and tried to calm me by telling us he works slowly, but he has very little say in what goes on there and the police officer just does not care what these poor peole go through every morning.
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 FleishmanApr-16-2025Qalandiya: summer fruit
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