Qalandiya - the road between the checkpoint and the refugee camp is wide open again
The feast of freedom is almost upon us.
The freedom of Abu Abdallah’s three eldest sons has been taken away.
“Abdallah and Ahmad are in Ofer prison, and Mohammad in Hadarim”, Abu Abdallah said. “Who even asks why? They gather people to prison in order to have cards for a deal with Hamas. They gather crowds of people.”
Abu Abdallah is right. He has had experience, living in between the seams of occupation rule. Lately, indeed, young Palestinians are being incarcerated while being accused of terrorism or membership in Hamas without any connection to their real essence and to truth.
Abu Abdallah is neither young nor healthy, and cannot feed his family the way he used to, nut there are people and children to feed and bills to pay. He has no choice but to recruit the youngest Tamimi, Ibrahim, to work in the family fruit stand.
Ibrahim left his studies and from a pampered youngster, became the family’s main breadwinner.
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Inside the warfare fog of the Gaza Strip, people disappear from the public eye. People – the living dead – are treated as bargaining cards, goods to be sold. Thus, the three sons of Abu Abdallah are now kept in prisons, like thousands of others, and many bodies kept somewhere and not buried by their families. Thus, the body of Khader Adnan who was on a hunger strike until May 2, 2023, and thus too the body of Walid Daka, who died two weeks ago, and many others whose names I do not know.
The people coming back to the West Bank from Jerusalem make sure to have their ID identified by the new system installed on both sides of the track. They learned the hard way that whoever forgets this or dismisses the ruler’s remote control is in for trouble.
The way from the Checkpoint to the refugee camp is now wide open again, no need to cover a long, exhausting distance or jump over fences.
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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