Qalandiya – “No work, no livelihood, no food”, said a cab driver at the checkpoint
I came because this marks Fatah Day, and found no mention or memorial of this fact…
I came because on the evening of the last day of 2006 it was here that I met a man who became a dear and beloved friend, a man who – on the first days of that bloodletting of which we are all bleeding – along with his whole family were forced to leave their house in the northern Gaza Strip and were exiled to Rafah. Since then, we have kept daily contact broken only on days when the Israeli army disconnects the Gasza Strip from the phone networks.
I crossed the Checkpoint before 4 p.m. and still the exit towards Jerusalem was empty. On the other side, at the northern opening of the checkpoint, a long line of people waited. They all know that only at 4 the gates will open but many arrive beforehand. Truth be told, those are the very few allowed through, the privileged among millions who for 3 months now, their lives and livelihood have been frozen and they are under harsh closure, lengthy and ongoing – nothing like it has been experienced for the decades-long military control of civilians in the West Bank.
A petition regarding active hours of the checkpoints was presented two months ago and supposed to be discussed by the Supreme Court on January 8th. Many depend on the ruling and getting things back to the way they were before war broke out. Time and the judges will tell…
People tell about their problems of livelihood, reasonless collective punishment, blocking exits from villages and towns throughout the West Bank: “No work, no livelihood, no food, we have been taken back perhaps 300 years”, said a cab driver who has been standing idle next to his car for 3 hours. He courts clients but there are none.
“Look at them”, he said, pointing to the colonist houses on the hill slopes around. “Only they are happy with the present situation”.
If it weren’t enough that the general public there has been punished for no reason and no fault of their own, even the few who cross the checkpoint have no easy time going to Ramallah, a road that has been closed by a metal gate with chains and has been blocked off for months, a fact that makes it difficult for pedestrians and lengthens their trip – anyone who (like me) cannot climb and jump over must walk hundreds of meters more.
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-26-2026Qalandiya. Things you see on the way
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