Qalandiya: My pals
My pals
I stood at the entrance of the vehicle checkpoint and look at its activity from afar. Suddenly arms waved at me, a mouth of a policeman opened and closed, standing far enough so I could not hear him but his body language spoke clearly. As I did not respond, he came toward me yelling and threatening and summed it up with “Go on, get out of here, go to your pals.”
So I did. I came to the children and boys who break my heart. I sat next to the corn-on-the-cob vat whose wonderful scent and fire keeps the cold away, and was surrounded by children and boys. My pals.
All that time, like a bothersome mosquito, I am haunted by the pictures of children starving to death, freezing to death, and simply murdered in the Gaza Strip. I know that in comparison, the fate of “my pals” is still so much better, but there is no reason in the world for children who are not even ten-years-old yet to live under the yoke of poverty and want and endless threats.
On my way back I wanted to go to the ambulance waiting for its double in order to pass over its human cargo back-to-back (occupation procedure), but was halted again by the same policeman, body, rifle and yells, and again that “Go on”, “Only I speak, not you”, and then turning to his obedient woman subordinate: “Then she will tell the media that they did so and so…” As he never stopped yelling and threatening, I realized that if he walks like Ben Gvir, talks like Ben Gvir, yells like Ben Gvir, threatens like Ben Gvir – he must belong to the cult with which I cannot even speak, for fascism has taken over law and compassion and all the rest of anything good.
Location Description
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-16-2025Qalandiya: summer fruit
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