Qalandiya, Mon 26.3.12, Afternoon
We reached Qalandiya at 3:40 PM. There were two active passageways. No one was waiting in the passageway leading to the DCO and government offices.
The peddlers with their pushcarts were all standing outside the shed. They told us that things had been quiet all day and that they had had no problems with the police
Inside the CP, the short lines in the passageways were not progressing rapidly, but they were progressing. A man in Passageway 4 was refused entry to Jerusalem. We heard him arguing with the soldiers and offering to leave his I.D. card in their hands if they would let him through to meet a business associate who was waiting for him on the Jerusalem side of the CP. The soldiers refused and the man returned north to the Ramallah side. When we asked him what had happened, he pulled out his permit to show us that he had permission to enter Israel, but only from the beginning of April. He said that as he always had a valid permit, he had not noticed the date. He continued on his way and later we saw him enter a car with Israeli license plates that had just passed through the CP. Perhaps his friend decided to conduct their meeting in A-Ram.
At 4 PM we saw that a line of some 30 people was waiting at the bus passenger CP. We had never been inside, so we decided to take a look. We boarded a bus (fare was NIS 3.30), traveled 20 yards, disembarked and stood in the new line. As in the old CP, the soldiers here also let people through three at a time into the examination area. Actually, this CP was a replica of the original across the way.
When we returned to the northern shed at 4:30, we saw that the carousel at the CP entrance had been locked and a long and growing line of people was waiting in the shed even though the lines in the passageways were quite short. The soldier on duty controlling the carousel would wait until the internal line was finished before letting a new group of people enter the CP. The soldier was not paying much attention to what was going on and in fact appeared to be dozing off in front of the CCTV screens. We phoned headquarters to complain but saw no improvement in service before we left the CP at 5 PM.
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 FleishmanOct-11-2026Qalandiya. Female Beggar
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