Qalandiya - the workers have to wait in the rain because the line extends beyond the shed
We reached Qalandiya at about 5:20. It is still dark outside, and from time to time it rains. However relatively speaking today is not cold.
On the Palestinian side, the falafel stand was on the corner of the shed, and the bagel vendor was also here with his cart and outside the new kiosk. This time, too, people are allowed through the turnstiles at the end of the three cages, and they then wait in the window area, enclosed by low fences, in preparation for access to the five inspection posts. At this stage the queues are in good condition and all five positions are open.
However, the lines are getting longer and the rain that occasionally descends in short bursts certainly does not benefit the workers who make their way to the checkpoint and often have to wait in queues that stray out of the shed.
At one of the breaks from the rain, after the dawn, we went outside and tried to see through the fences how the construction had progressed in the new area of the checkpoint. As far as we could see, everything is nearly ready. The lighting is on and signs directing people are already hanging. One of them is directed at the “toilets”, a facility that is so conspicuous in its absence at the checkpoint now. We hope that services will be opened and will last long and will be worthy of use …
The lines were orderly and the men allowed the women to come in at the entrance to the pens. About six people are already waiting at the humanitarian gate. Shortly after 6, a man arrived in a wheelchair with escorts and they went to the closed humanitarian gate. We phoned the DCO and were told that the gate was opened between 6:00 and 6:30 and they could not hurry it, but then a soldier from the military police arrived to change the shift (a concrete building where the soldier who opens the turnstiles sits opposite the cages) He is accompanied by a female officer.When the officer came out of the “aquarium“ with the soldier who was replaced and who returned to the base, we asked her to speed up the opening of the humanitarian gate, at least for the wheelchair (in the humanitarian lane there is also a gate that can be opened and then it is not necessary to pass through the turnstile). She agreed to this and then a guard appeared and opened the gate, for the time being only for the man with the wheelchair and his escort. She went with them to the inspection post to make sure that the gates next to the turnstiles were opened for the wheelchair so that he could pass through. In the meantime the representative of the DCO appeared and immediately opened the gate for those who were still waiting.
At 6:50, two volunteers came from the church organization, one from Germany and the other, the younger, from the Czech Republic. They are here only for a short period of time, usually on Mondays at 4:30 pm and on Fridays later. They had heard a lecture by our friend Hanna Barag and wanted to meet us, so they came today.
The lines were no longer so long and seemed reasonable. But then people started trying to enter the left side of the left cage, others were angry at them and shouted at them to keep the line. We had just directed the attention of the two volunteers from abroad that it is about to happen, and then the lines collapsed, it happened in a moment, someone starts pushing, another ran forward and then everyone ran and pushed and three relatively straight lines turned into a pile of people pushing and screaming … It really is not clear why it should have happened today, and at a time when the lines were already getting shorter, and the pile of people was not so large, and almost immediately, orderly queues followed.
For personal reasons we had to leave early and could not stay until there were orderly queues again. We hoped it would not take long. We parted from the foreign volunteers after a short conversation and went through the humanitarian gate. The passage took about 20-25 minutes.
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 FleishmanJun-28-2026Qalandiya. The bridge leading from Jerusalem to the Qalandiya checkpoint
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