Qalandiya - the army destroyed again the fruit stand
One week after the Israeli army destroyed yet again Abdallah Tamimi’s fruit stand, I came to him as one paying a condolence visit. I came to Abdallah to tell him, wordlessly, how sorry I am about what had happened. I came to Abdallah to hear him, not to ask questions.
Abdallah said it was on a Thursday that they (the soldiers) came to the stand and handed his father a paper that said that in one week’s time they would destroy the stand. Why? Because it disturbs traffic.
And they (the soldiers) did come, but not in a week’s time. They 3 days later and destroyed.
The financial damage is estimated at 6000-7000 NIS.
Now Abdallah sits by his fruit crates next to the rubble.
He has a wife and three children at home and needs to feed them, so one works in what one is used to and knows. Abdallah is not the only person whose source of livelihood they (the soldiers) destroyed. There were others like him, there are others like him, and as long as reality is that of the subjugation by a ruler of the ruled, devoid of any rights – there will be others.
I focus on Abdallah because our friendship goes way back.
Like others, he will be back, rebuilding what has been destroyed, for he has no other option.
It’s not ideology, it’s the survival instinct.
***
On my way I was told that inside, in the DCO, a woman with her baby is waiting for a permit to get back home, to Gaza. After nearly 2 hours, on my way back, again I met the man who told me this. There were two women with him – one in her forties and her daughter in her twenties, back from hospitalization in Hebron. They were waiting for the woman with the baby inside. A taxi driver was hired to drive all four, and he was inside too, in the DCO, wanting to help, and translate into Israeli-Hebrew the urgent need of the mother and baby of their permit.
I sat and waited with the two women, the mother and daughter. We waited for a long time for the woman and baby and driver, until they came out.
In between, I was told that ever since Abu Mazen announced freezing all coordination with Israel, hardly any patients cross from Gaza to the West Bank. Everyone fends for themselves. Whoever enters the Gaza Strip needs to spend three weeks in quarantine. There are Corona-virus patients in the Strip, but not many, and these are people who returned there from Egypt through the Rafah crossing.
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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