Qalandiya, Mon 27.4.09, Morning
Arrived 6:45 to find hundreds of people milling around and all the windows closed. Closure midnight the night before – a full 24 hours before Erev Yom Hazicaron (Remembrance Day). The Palestinians we spoke to all said that they had not been informed the day before when they had been at the checkpoint and there were no notices anywhere to announce the fact. Even if it had been announced on the radio and in the newspapers (and some of the workers leave home at 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning) it would have been decent to have put up signs the previous day.
The humanitarian gate was opened to let schoolchildren, teachers and the sick with blue I.Ds through. But there were others who did not fall into the specified categories and were turned back – parents who were supposed to accompany their childrens' outing were not allowed even though their children and their teachers were waiting for them on the other side; a cook of 30 years at an orphanage in East Jerusalem couldn't get through to prepare the food for the children: a man who had a court case for that day in Jerusalem etc.
Again an example of the total lack of respect and disregard for people and their time thus increasing the sense of disdain and hatred among the people we continue to control.
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-27-2025Qalandiya: A beggar woman
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