Qalandiya - the soldiers destroyed Palestinians' stalls
When Nitza sent the link to an item describing the violence exerted by Israeli soldiers around Qalandiya Checkpoint ( https://imemc.org/article/israeli-troops-demolish-palestinian-owned-stands-at-qalandia-checkpoint/?fbclid=IwAR3p8vHCfZbTYbNAzG2XCiH9VxDJ60Bpg3k9ANTypBuwCX0Ekn0xPvOLfik )
I was reading and something in me suppressed the details.
Even as I came there and I was told that on the other – east – side of the checkpoint, vendors’ stalls were destroyed, nothing had prepared me for the sight of devastation that once again has fallen upon Abdallah Tamimi and his family.
What until a few days ago was a beautiful fruit stand that provided livelihood to Abdallah and his wife, their three children, his parents and their smaller children – is now a pile of tin rubble discarded at the wayside.
“We have had our stand destroyed nine or ten times” said Abu Abdallah who was there at the destruction site, placing several crates with some fruits for sale on top of a wooden board.
The Tamimi family fruit stand was not the victim of the army’s demolition work. The entire area is strewn with tin sheets, the remains of vendor stands, crumbs of attempts of a pittance-livelihood.
A person standing far away and looking at me from the top of a hill saved to me in greeting, and in sign language, without words, joined the roots of his hands in the air as if saying: I was arrested.
At the entrance space of the checkpoint, where no one can any longer retreat or get away, were the man hunters. They stopped workers on their way home and searched who among these men and women had crossed that morning without holding a transit permit.
A heavy, suffocating scent of anachronism is let out by the brand name “Border Police”, an Israeli unit whose men are partly soldiers, partly policemen. What was founded in 1949 as a military unit called “Frontier Force” changed its appearance and essence in 1950 and became “Border (Guard) Police”, subordinated to police command.
The result is a hybrid unit, a mix of military-policing unit with extended authority, a unit that nothing to do with either guarding or borders.
This is similar to the US “National Guard” that has nothing to do with guarding the nation and is no more than a militia at the bidding of the ruling power’s caprices.
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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