Qalandiya: Trying to get a day's work while risking lives
Nothing will be said about this on Israeli radio, nor seen on Israeli TV.
No eager reporter, not even one who hurried to review those called “illegals” (according to the inhuman law) who cross the wall, and emphasized how dangerous they are to the state, and went even further and told the authorities about them so they would be arrested and punished, while he became a self-crowned hero. He wouldn’t conceive of checking what happened with those desperate few who climbed at great risk to themselves on the wall and were shot by the soldiers waiting for them on the bottom at dawn.
Those who do talk about them are the Palestinians who tell about persons killed and wounded, people who did not get to their destination alive, to the place that promises them a day’s work, so they could put a bit of bread on the family table when daddy would get home in the evening, that they could pay the minimal bills such as electricity, water, taxes.
They haven’t great wishes, the Palestinians. All they ask to survive another day.
“This way”, said an acquaintance, “like now, it’s neither living nor dying. There are youngsters who challenged reality and tried and climbed and got shot, and they are no longer alive.”
The man who spoke with me continued and said that for two weeks now, the soldiers have not shot or killed anyone.
He knows and I know that this “not shot” bears no optimism or hope. It does bear witness to what there is, and what these desperate people may expect who have no light at the end of the dark tunnel in which they been living – for over two years.
And the Jewish Israelis on the other side of the wall, what about them? They live in a parallel universe that has no Palestinians, neither in the Gaza Strip nor in the West Bank.
One cannot, may not ignore the new graffiti in shiny black upon the separation wall on Road no. 1 that says: 20,000 children.
I have no idea who wrote this or when, but I do know that this number is no longer actual. The number of victims of fire and famine and floods has risen, and I know and hear that Gazans are brothers – far or near – of those West Bank inhabitants to whom this road leads.
I took the adjoining picture months ago, taking the trouble to reduce its range in order not to incriminate the exact location of the young people climbing down.
Location Description
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-31-2026Qalandiya. Human remains or clothing remains
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