Qalandiya - surviving, not really living
In the photo: Things you see on the way
Or: a place to pray
What I heard from acquaintances on both sides of the Apartheid Wall:
- Very bad, it’s already four o’clock and we haven’t begun, we’ve been here since 9 in the morning, and there’s nothing.
- Many people are not really living. They walk, eat, sleep, but it’s not as though they’re really alive. They’re dead. It’s a body walking, eating, sleeping. Living dead.
- Many children who work here don’t go to school. Even if a kid studies, even goes to the university, what will become of him? He will be like his father, no more. He will never be anything that suits his education and that really suits a person. That’s why many people send their kids out to work selling stuff, not going to school.
- Only half of the children you seen here go to school in the morning, and only come to work in the afternoon.
On man, who owns a business in East Jerusalem, said: We have no hope, me and my children. I have a home, a good family, I make a livelihood, but it’s a tasteless life. We see how many are murdered in the West Bank, and I’m concerned for my family.
My life consists of getting up in the morning, going to work, going to sleep, getting up in the morning, again and again. I survive. I don’t really live.
I’m asked why I don’t request Israeli citizenship and I ask – how will that help me in life? To vote in the Knesset elections?
The checkpoint lies over a vast area. In the past there was a car-park in front, facing the West Bank. With time, with the “improvements” as they call it, a fence has been erected around the entire compound and the way for anyone headed towards the refugee camp has become much longer.
But wherever there is life, people manage to overcome barriers.
A few weeks ago, the fence was broken and people crossed over to the other side.
Now the army has blocked the breach again, barbed wire and metal rods were placed over it and everything is fortified with metal chains and locks.
But wherever there is life, people manage to overcome barriers.
True, in the meantime the fence has not been breached, but the braver fellows hold out their hand to each other, climb over and cross it.
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 FleishmanApr-26-2026Qalandiya. Things you see on the way
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