Qalandiya, Wed 10.9.08, Afternoon
16:00 There were two sleeves open for pedestrians. A holiday atmosphere
with many families and children.
At the vehicular passage, movement was slow. Here too there were two lane
open
16:18 There is now just one passage open for pedestrians and the line is
getting longer. We started a round of telephone calls. For the record, the
response was "The soldiers are eating"
16:40 The humanitarian hotline promised to check. Ruti said that they had a
holiday which was not being respected. Nadav, from the DCO promised that he
would check also. The meanwhile, the line grew longer. Within the enclosed area
which leads to the turnstiles, there were about 25 people and the line extended
to the middle of the waiting area. The festive atmosphere disappeared.
Only at
17:20 did the soldiers finish their meal and from the minute that a second lane
was open, the line disappeared. When we left the checkpoints, another event
awaited us.
17:20 In the parking lot opposite the vehicular checkpoint, we saw an
ambulance from the Red Crescent and near it, three members of its staff were
waiting for a back to back passage of a boy, Awad P who lost an eye in the
demonstration at Beilin and was in the ambulance that arrived from Ramallah and
was already detained for 40 minutes at the checkpoint. The ambulance driver
told us that 3 days ago, he arrived at 7 p.m. at the Bethlehem checkpoint with a
person, aged 40, who was suffering from cancer who was kept in the ambulance
until he was transferred to Hadassah, Ein Kerem. After waiting two hours, when
the sick person had already been transferred to an ambulance of the Red Crescent
together with family members, his blood pressure dropped, as did his pulse, and
they had to order an emergency unit. They tried unsuccessfully to revive him
and there was nothing left to do but take him back to Bethlehem.
18:00 Ruti spoke with those in charge of the Jerusalem envelope and they
told her that they would speak with those in charge to fascillitate
passage.
18:10 Faadi, the ambulance driver in the parking area said that according
to Dahlia B, the ambulance with the young boy that was delayed at the checkpoint
did not receive a permit to cross and went back in the direction of Ramallah.
Before the ambulance crew left, we asked them to update us if there was indeed a
permit for the boy to cross in order to get to Saint George hospital. We did
not hear from them.
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 FleishmanOct-27-2026Qalandiya. Closure – Climbing over the fence
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