Qalandiya, Qalandiya Camp
Over there, deep inside the alleys of Qalandiya refugee camp, far behind Adham who appears in the photo – Adham who comes with his father and brother from as Samu’ to find their livelihood here, close to the refugee camp and the checkpoint – over there, alongside one of the winding alleys and until just a few hours ago stood the family home of Mohammad Manasrah, who on February 29th murdered two Jews at the Eli settlement gas station.
The soldiers came a bit past midnight in numerous armed forces, surrounded the house, blocked all the roads, stopped traffic to Ramallah, woke up the family members and told them over loudspeakers to desert their home. The work was completed in the morning.
Empty cartridges scattered on the road leading to the checkpoint attested to the protest that had broken out, and the army’s reply. Revenge – not justice – motivated the decision makers and the performers, taking revenge on the family of he who is no longer alive. Revenge – the greenhouse for more hatred and more terrorist attacks.
The intention behind the demolition of perpetrators is not revenge, declared judges. It is deterrence and the prevention of similar cases, and since Jews do not tend to perpetrate terrorist attacks – as the court pointed out – the demand made by Husein Abu Khdeir, the father of the child burnt alive a decade ago, to demolish the home of the initiator and performer of his child’s murder was rejected.
Last Saturday the municipality representatives raided vendors at the checkpoint entrance again. Once again those who go to great lengths to bring bread and milk to their children were fined 425 shekels. “I don’t make such a huge sum of money in a whole day’s work,” said a man whose home is faraway from here, at Bani Naim in the Hebron district.
On her way back, at the checkpoint entrance, a woman carrying a small child in a pram tried to wake the sleeping toddler in order to get him out of the pram. When she stood him on his legs, the child who was still sleepy collapsed, and a stranger who happened to be there picked the child up. Thus, the head of the child dropped on his shoulder, he carried him through the turnstile. The mother carried the folded-up pram in one hand, and her heavy bag in the other.
At the last inspection post, the mother showed her ID and valid transit-permit to the girl-soldier behind the armored glass window. After checking her computer, the soldier instructed the mother to turn back.
What happened? I asked the woman. Blacklisted, she said, and turned back with her son and folded-up pram.
When she was a bit distant, I noticed her bag still placed opposite the soldier’s post. I hurried after the woman and united the two…
At this point, my own delay, the careful and suspecting inspection of my own ID, and the soldier’s stupid question of the “Are you Jewish?”-type sounded hollow and meaningless.
Location Description
Qalandiya Camp
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Qalandiya Camp The camp was founded east of the village of Qalandiya in 1949 and became inhabited by Palestinian refugees from Jerusalem and the surrounding villages whose homes had remained on the Israeli side of the armistice lines. The camp was included in Jerusalem’s municipal jurisdiction after 1967, and since the erection of the Separation Wall has been disconnected from the city and become no-man’s-land between Jerusalem and Ramallah. It numbers about 10,000 inhabitants and many of them hold a Jerusalem ID. It is considered one of the most difficult camps both from a criminal and a ‘security’ standpoint, and also one of the most neglected and impoverished. It suffers from poverty, neglect, crime, illegal construction, and the lack of proper municipal services. Terrorist attackers have come from there, and it often seems ‘security’ incidents, numerous incursions, and arrests, including the killing of youths following stone-throwing.
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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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