Qalandiya - the ladder crashed and Khaled was thrown on the ground
At the height of the pandemic, when Israel issued transit permits to Palestinians so they could work in construction, the permits were issued on condition that the worker remain at his work place and not return to the West Bank in the evening.
Khaled held such a permit, but the person who provided him with work did not provide him with a place to spend the night.
The days were late winter and nights were extremely cold.
In order to bypass the draconian instructions, Khaled sneaked into the West Bank every night and back from it at dawn.
A ladder leaning on the 8-meter-high wall that surrounds the town of A-Ram served (and still serves) the desperate to cross over to the other side.
Day after day, week after week, Khaled – who never backed off hard work – managed to bring bread to his family.
But then came the morning of a day that in hind sight turned to be his catastrophe, a day in which his body and entire life would change.
Pre-dawn, Khaled climbed the ladder at the usual site, and just as he reached the upper rungs, a police or Border Police jeep emerged out of the dark. The vehicle’s lights landed on the man on the ladder, and the car swayed over to the wall, purposefully crashing into the ladder. The ladder was smashed, and with it – Khaled’s body thrown on the ground, his left leg before the rest of his body.
The policemen disembarked and took a look at the man’s body lying on the road. Upon seeing the bare bone peeping out of the living flesh, they returned to their jeep and hurried away.
Khaled remained lying on the ground, in agony, screaming in pain. Passersby summoned an ambulance that transported him to a Ramallah hospital.
He lay in the hospital for months. He underwent six surgeries, until running out of money, and then left the hospital prior to the completion of his treatment and against the doctors’ recommendation.
At present Khaled drags a leg, has a hard time walking, every movement is extremely painful and he has a hard time finding work.
A friend does him a favor and lets him watch a car park he owns two days a week.
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-12-2026Qalandiya. Abdallah at his fruit stand
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