Qalandiya - Routine of Occupation
All five checking stations were open when we arrived at 5:30 a.m. but the rate of progress into them (and thus in the previous stage, through the cages) ranged from agonizing slow to nonexistent. It improved during the morning except for Station No. 2, which, for some reason, remained aggravatingly slow throughout the shift. At one point there was also a problem with opening the turnstile of the right-side cage but it was solved once we were able to speak at 5:50 with the soldier, in the “Aquarium,” responsible for opening the turnstiles. In the course of the shift, the longest lines reached halfway through the erstwhile parking lot.
A Civil Administration officer arrived at 6:20, opened the Humanitarian Gate and continued to operate it smoothly until about 7:25 (when we met him at the exit from the checkpoint).
All in all it was a morning without major hitches or dramas, just the eternal weight (and wait) of living under occupation. At 7:00 we joined the shortest of the lines moving through the cages and exited the checking station 25 minutes later.
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 FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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