Qalandiya - Second Ramadan Friday
A careful selection meant to decrease the number of people praying at Al Aqsa.
I know that the word “selection” (selektzia) has a harsh Holocaust connotation, but there is no other definition for the procedures and conduct exhibited this year on Ramadan Fridays at Qalandiya.
The dictionary says this about selection:
“A careful choice among people or things to discover the best among them”.
“Every categorization of a group of people actively involved in stereotypical distinctions or conceived as such”.
There was not a drop of optimism or festivity even as show, it was an exhibition of pure and rampant racism and discrimination.
Humans were surrounded all around with barriers, fences and concrete walls, everyone barring none on the sights of a rifle pointed at body center.
Children were a rare sight, and even rarer were children passing the selections.
One of the disappointed was an 11-year-old child who came holding the original document, preserved in nylon, a child whose mom had crossed the inspection lines already and he – wishing to join her – was blocked.
He stood there for a long time at the gate, looking half-worried, half-tearful, perhaps waiting for a miracle, perhaps those who gave him no reason for not letting him through, would relent… But the expected miracle did not happen.
Judging by the amount of arms, ammunition and vehicles poised at the top of the hill overlooking people coming in and people distanced, ready to attack at any given moment – one cannot separate these forces and amounts of arms from the fact that on this very day the inquiry into the failure at Nir Oz was publicized. Nir Oz is the near Gaza kibbutz that was forgotten, its inhabitants abandoned as soldiers flocked here in the West Bank – one cannot help wondering whom all those armed soldiers were supposed to attack? Enemies who are elderly men and women coming with the hope of praying to their God?
At 11 o’clock I hurried to cross the gate leading to the checkpoint because I was told by friends that a week ago the way closed at 11:15 would be opened only by nighttime.
Beyond the metal net hiding the various corral lanes, one could see the shadows of body outlines arriving at advanced checking posts and rejected, back to where they came from.
Inside the checkpoint, after the ID inspection, idle security guards called me over to talk, wanting to know why I keep coming to Qalandiya again and again, if I am not afraid to be beyond the red line, and emphasized that it was not they who decided on policy or procedures, and that I should not blame them for “they are only following orders”. They asked why I don’t write about their good deeds.
The best part of it all was when one of the guys boasted that I had made him famous. How? I photographed him, and the photo was passed among his mates and family members.
Location Description
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
See all reports for this place-
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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