Qalandiya: Second Ramadan Friday
Like on any Ramadan Friday morning in previous years, still everything is different. More than anything, everyone is now threatened with expulsion.
Only the old folks are permitted passage, thinks one who might near his end and this might be the last chance to get to Al Aqsa and talk to his maker.
Whoever ran this complex/simple operation were gun barrels, not humans.
The dim air, the disrupted roads, the puddle-filled earth, all make the comers toddle around last night’s rainwater.
One by one they entered the entry permitted, and from there to the long trek they faced, as it planned – corrals inside corrals inside corrals.
The green (Palestinians) ID holders, equipped by the regime-distributed permit and magnetic cards, entered only the eastern side of the checkpoint, while whoever held a blue ID (Israelis, me included), only the western side of the checkpoint.
No exceptions, no gender partition. Only the color of your ID made the difference.
In view of the number of armored vehicles standing uphill overlooking the checkpoint entrance, it was impossible not to think that if such forces were standing overlooking the hills around the Gaza Strip on October 7th, day of the slaughter, many lives would have been spared. But these forces and their like were not there. They stand here, heroes facing the old and weak.
Suffocating reality in the space between the checkpoint entrances is but the offspring of evil architecture.
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 FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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