Qalandiya, Tue 15.2.11, Morning
This morning we heard again as sometimes before: "When you come it takes less time to go through the checkpoint and when you are not here the situation is sometimes unbearable.." Only that today we saw it happen.
With some embarrassment we negotiated with the Civil administration officer the issue of the entrance hall 3 carousels (the carousels versus the whole big apparatus of occupation). He was actually there (in the hut and so we didn't see him) for the whole time when people queued in one line to carousel no 2 and then only no 1 opened It happened more than once. It is bad to watch people run from one to the other because they get stuck- they: older men, women with babies, older women, children- in front of a carousel which doesn't open while the other does. And that happened from 5 am to 5.30 when over 500 people went through.
Only when you are not physically there it seems trivial because the 500 got through. And is it trivial that people can approach the carousels and line up in front of 3 carousels which open simultaneously at regular intervals? But we know there is more to it. And all this happened on a day when there were not hundreds of people queuing. Also there was no school today so no pupils appeared.
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 FleishmanJul-21-2026Qalandiya. Conversation in the shadow of the wall
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