Qalandiya, Sun 3.11.13, Afternoon
Translator: Charles K.
One person’s experience reflects what all endure. We can infer the rationale guiding this enterprise from the web of physical and mental torture the occupiers impose on the weakest of those subjected to it, an enterprise that for over a generation has grown ever more sophisticated and has become an all-encompassing, multi-limbed monster.
The people running the occupation believe that it’s best for someone who must go to one of the Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem to notify them in advance of their plans to fall ill or be injured. That’s the only way they’ll have a chance to submit a request in time, receive a reply and possess the piece of paper known as a “certificate” indicating the required coordination has been accomplished – in other words, the Shabak has granted permission.
But the 21 year old man from Nablus, whose condition the medical team described as “critical; he’s intubated, he has leukemia,” hadn’t notified the authorities that his condition would become more serious and hadn’t obtained the permits in advance.
The ambulance transporting him waited at the entrance to the checkpoint, time passed, and after a lengthy delay it was ordered back: “Nothing has been coordinated,” said the soldiers. But it had been. (A person familiar with the operation of the ambulance crossing at the Qalandiya checkpoint knows that an ambulance doesn’t begin its journey unless all the necessary permits have been received). More phone calls, ten more unnecessary minutes, critical minutes perhaps (in addition to the forty minute trip from Nablus to Qalandiya), and then the approval was approved, the procedure proceeded, the patient was shifted from one stretcher to another, cried out in pain, the ambulance sirened its way to the hospital. The urgent haste to reach the hospital in order to save the patient’s ebbing life, which was apparent to everyone there, wasn’t clear to those implementing the procedures and the directives. They have their own priorities and order of precedence.
And while that was happening, at the same time a 16 year old youth with a back injury was transferred from a Palestinian to a Jerusalem ambulance: The two ambulances, the two medical teams and the injured youth had already arrived at the two sides of the checkpoint at 1 PM. Every one of the youth’s movements, each bump in the road increased his suffering. But unexpectedly (very unexpectedly), the soldiers claimed the youth had been blacklisted by the Shabak. The two ambulances turned around, the youth taken back to Ramallah and, said one of the drivers, “they began to work on cancelling the blacklisting.”
And only when the blacklisting had been cancelled and, according to the hidden/secret agents, the youth was, miraculously, no longer a security danger, and it was already 5:15 in the afternoon, the two ambulances met once more. He was transferred from the first to the second, which then drove to the hospital.
And if someone wonders how this miracle occurs, that a Shabak blacklisting is cancelled in four hours – I have an explanation, a gut feeling based on many years of experience. But it’s no more valid than any other explanation.
On the main road to the Qalandiya checkpoint Border Police soldiers caught two young men looking for work. “In Israel illegally” – that’s what they call those who struggle to survive and earn their daily bread.
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 FleishmanMay-13-2025Qalandiya: Back-to-back procedure for transferring patients
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