Qalandiya, Sun 13.11.11, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
5:30 We arrived at the checkpoint. Three gates were open at this hour and the line was already very long. Document inspection was slow. The length of the wait on line, over an hour, resulted in groups of people who’d lost patience bypass those standing in front of them by climbing over them on the fences.
6:00 The line at the humanitarian gate was long and congested. We telephoned the DCO, which told us that soldiers were on their way, but they were waiting for someone from the security company (they waited almost half an hour). Can’t they insure that “someone from the security company,” who surely receives a salary, arrives on time?
6:30 The humanitarian gate finally opens to the people massed before it: the ill, the elderly, pupils. The humanitarian gate isn’t fulfilling its intended function; the wait is as long as at the others. Rivka took a sick old woman by the hand and, pleading, was able to get her through before others whose condition wasn’t very good either (the sick, etc…). And here’s another reason there’s no point to the humanitarian gate: After people go through they have to join the same line as those going through the other gates, in the endless queues for document inspection. We can’t access this line, so we can’t help.
As we do every Sunday, we repeatedly telephoned the DCO to request:
1. Making document inspection more efficient so that workers aren’t delayed getting to their jobs and don’t run the risk of being fired.
2. Permitting people who are ill, elder and schoolchildren to cross more easily so they can get to hospital and school
As usual, our repeated, urgent requests weren’t granted.
Suggests for improving the crossing:
1. Train the document inspectors to work more efficiently, and have DCO officers supervise them.
2. Open all five gates (not only three, at best)
3. Open the humanitarian gate earlier, at 6:00 AM rather than at 6:30, and inspect the documents of those using it separately from those going through the other gates.
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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