Qalandiya, Mon 28.11.11, Afternoon
At 4 PM there was almost no one at the CP: no one stood in line in the northern shed and there were only short lines in the two active passageways. On the other hand, there was a long line for the bus passengers in the western side of the CP.
One young man was waiting in Passageway 5 leading to the DCO offices as well as the post office. He only wanted to post a letter to a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli prison, but the soldiers manning the passageway were too busy to open the turnstile and let him in (despite the dearth of people at the CP). The young man waited patiently even though we told him that the post office was most probably closed by this hour. While we were talking to him, we were joined by a young woman from Jerusalem married to a Palestinian man from Ramallah. The couple was requesting “family reunification” from the Israeli authorities. The husband had been summoned to a committee meeting in Jerusalem to discuss the request, but the authorities refused to issue a permit for him to enter Jerusalem in order to participate in the meeting. Finally, after repeated phone calls to headquarters asking that the two be allowed to enter the DCO offices proved useless, we asked to speak with Alaa, the CP commander. Alaa opened the turnstile and the two entered to emerge after 10 minutes with their requests denied. We took the young man’s letter and promised to mail it from Tel Aviv. And we phoned Hannah Barag and asked her to talk to the young woman.
We met many people at the CP who told us about chaotic conditions on Monday morning, with long lines at Qalandiya from 5:30 AM until 11 or 12 noon. Some of the taxi drivers told us that they had had a very profitable day, making 10 or more trips ferrying people who despaired at the length of the lines from Qalandiya to Hizmeh CP.
At 16:30, two passageways were operating with only a few people on line in each. The CP was almost deserted when we left.
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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