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Qalandiya, Mon 20.8.12, Afternoon
Observers: Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
15:25: These are the final days of the holiday. The northern shed is full of people in their holiday best. More than 120 are waiting patiently in the huge line, over half of them women with little children. Only 3 internal passageways are operating. We phoned the Humanitarian Hotline to suggest that they open the Humanitarian Gate for the women and children. The (female) soldier who answered sounded surprised at the suggestion and promised to see if it was "feasible". The Humanitarian Gate was never opened, but another, fourth, internal passageway began functioning. This was not very helpful to the mothers carrying little children in their arms. The (female) soldier on duty in the booth in the northern shed, which controls the turnstiles at the entrance to the CP, was really lucky the booth is soundproof and she couldn't hear the little children crying in the crowded lines. The crowding continued all during our shift. The internal lines progressed very slowly with an impact on the waiting time in the lines in the northern shed. The western passageway for bus transportation was not operating at all. It's really sad to see how the I.D.F. is unable to deal with these situations and deploy accordingly so as not to ruin the holiday atmosphere, even when they know about them in advance. (We understand that the Humanitarian Gate was opened for the holiday at Bethlehem CP. Only in Qalandiya the authorities saw no reason to open it.)
In the northern shed we met an aristocratic looking woman of 74 dressed in beautiful Bedouin clothes, a resident of Gaza. She had come to Ramallah to reunite with her dying sister whom she hadn't seen for 12 years (because of the complications in the Middle East). The sister had died two days ago, and the woman's permit was due to expire on Monday. She had come to Qalandiya early in the morning to cross into Israel and travel home, but the lines were even longer in the morning and because she has trouble standing on her feet for very long*, she had decided to return to her sister's house and wait until the afternoon. When we reached the CP she and her two sons (both West Bank residents) had been waiting for two hours to enter the DCO offices and had not made any progress. We phoned headquarters and asked to speak to the DCO representative about their problem. We were told that the representative was in a meeting and couldn't be bothered. We were told to call back in fifteen minutes to see if he was free and we did this several times. The meetings ended only at 16:10 (during all this time the DCO was closed) and only then could we talk with him. Hannah also tried to help and discovered that the woman's permit expired only that night so that she could actually go through and reach Gaza. But the woman and her sons were afraid that Erez CP would be closed and she would not be allowed to reach her home. In the end they decided to try a get a new permit on Tuesday.
*The woman told us that her problems were the result of falling down the stairs in her Gaza home several weeks ago during one of the frequent periodic blackouts when there is no electricity.
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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