Qalandiya - waiting for hours to get DCO assistance
At the vehicle checkpoint, on the public transportation lane, a bus from Ramallah to Jerusalem was stopped.
This is the Israeli army’s official procedure.
Security guards and soldiers entered it to inspect the passengers’ papers, and disembarked leading a woman and a man accompanied by armed men, shamefully, into the checkpoint compound.
I watched the goings-on from afar. I was standing on the pedestrian sidewalk which – obviously, or not so obviously – is meant for humans to stand on. The sight of me standing there antagonized an armed security guard who began to shout, “Ho-ho-ho!”, and when unanswered, “Hi-hi-hi!” I never looked at the origin of those cries nor responded, so he began shouting “Majnouna, majouna…!” (‘madwoman’ in Arabic).
When the detainees escaped my field of vision, I disappeared as well.
After nearly two hours, back at that spot, watching how a driver of a tender carrying a cupboard was ordered by the soldiers to take apart the ropes and blue protective wrap around the cupboard, cries towards me were resumed. Again I did not respond, so a security guard approached me, stood opposite me and yelled: “I know, you are a leftist and an antisemite, scram!”
So what did I do? – Took wing.
***
Closed – opened – closed:
Once again, the route leading from the pedestrian checkpoint to the refugee camp was closed and locked. Again, Palestinians now had to walk hundreds of added and superfluous yards to reach the main road.
Police and security guards did this three days ago, so I was told by my acquaintances, this was when the Jews were on holiday. The next day, Palestinians came with break-in tools and opened the lock, and then police returned and locked it, announcing they would arrest anyone daring to open it again.
So that is how it has been ever since. Everyone knows that everything here is videoed, and no one wants to be taken into custody.
But there are those who manage to spare themselves the extra walk – young men who come home from a day’s work and brave the climb over the locked gate.
Half an hour before official closing time I reached the front of the DCO offices.
Dozens of people crowded in front of the waiting shed, and the offices for which they had come.
There were women, men and children there, and a 3-month-old baby who dozed and sometimes sucked on a bottle in the arms of his young mother.
The gate leading to the waiting shed in front of the offices was locked. On the red benches in front of the DCO office, many sat awaiting their turn, and inside the office as well many waited to be called up to the armored window, hoping that perhaps – only perhaps – their request would be met.
Everyone, both inside and out, had a note with a number according to which they entered the inner courtyard to wait some more. People waited for hours for their turn to be taken care of.
A woman, aged and heavy, collapsed on a chair as small as a kindergarten chair, said “I need to go to the bathroom”, and that she had been waiting here since 11 a.m. (four and a half hours). Three times people inside have asked for her to have the door opened so she could reach the bathroom, but no answer came. She is afraid to leave lest her number be called and she miss her turn, said a man standing next to her.
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-16-2025Qalandiya: summer fruit
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