Qalandiya, Mon 7.11.11, Afternoon
15:30: The northern shed was full of people celebrating the holiday. About 50 men, women and children stood in each of the three lines leading to the turnstiles. Inside the CP we could see that all 5 passageways were active (including the DCO lane), with a considerable number of people waiting in line in each of them. The lines in the northern shed were not moving, just growing longer and longer. We phoned the Humanitarian Hotline to ask if they could speed things up but their answer was that the soldiers on duty were doing the best they could. We suggested that they open the Humanitarian Passageway for all the women and children and were told that they would check and see what could be done. Actually, nothing at all was done, the Humanitarian Passageway remained closed, but somehow it seemed that the lines began to move a little bit faster
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We walked over to see what was happening at the passageway for bus passengers at the western end of the CP. The passageway looked deserted – no people waiting in line and no buses waiting to pick up passengers. On the other hand, there were several buses waiting in the old parking lot at the eastern exit from the CP. It appeared as though the bus passageway was shut for the holiday, but there was no one to ask.
The holiday crowding continued all afternoon with only slight fluctuations in the number of people waiting in the northern shed. We spoke with a young man wearing a white coat and timed his passage (it was easy to track his progress from a distance): just to enter the CP from the line in the northern shed took him 35 minutes.
We met and spoke with several groups of tourists who were also waiting in the lines to return to Jerusalem from a visit to Ramallah. They found the crowded and filthy conditions at Qalandiya very impressive (and not in a positive sense, of course).
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 FleishmanMay-11-2026Qalandiya. Ambulances wait in front of a closed checkpoint
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