Qalandiya, Wed 24.10.07, Afternoon
Although there were not more than 40 Palestinians at the pedestrian checkpoint at 4:05, the checkpoint operators (Military police, shabak secret servicemen, blue police, whoever is responsible) managed to make these Jerusalemites wait up to half an hour to cross from north to south.
Only entrance 1 is open at. At 4:09 the soldiers announce over the loudspeaker that also entrance 4 is open. All those at the end of the line in entrance 1 run to entrance 4. About 5 people are allowed through. After waiting for 10 minutes, becoming increasingly upset, they are told entrance 4 is in fact closed and they have to go back to entrance 1. Of course each change of entrance means that those who were already close to the carrousela and ready to be checked now go back to the end of the line at the new entrance. After 10 minutes of waiting and being pushed around, the loudspeaker announces that entrance 4 is again open. This harassment goes on for a while. Women with children who we have been waiting in entrance 1 and then in entrance 4 and then again in entrance 1 and again in entrance 4 are crying, not so much from tiredness but from frustration and humiliation.
At entrance 1 the soldier shouts repeatedly to a very old woman, bent over a walking stick, to show her ID: "Hadj, hadj, hawieh!!" Hadj is supposed to be a respectful title for old people but somehow, with the threatening shouting of the soldier it sounds like an insult.
At about 4:35 the soldier checking in entrance 4 decides to be more thorough. To one tourist he says: "Your visa is not valid", but then lets him go. But then he thinks he has caught a "big fish". A young boy of about 20, with a blue ID is detained and 3 shabak plain clothed men come to question him. He is introduced into the door that says "further inspection" and then the 3 plain clothed secret service men start to check him. They put on rubber gloves and strip him. The boy seems calm. At 4:50 the 3 secret servicemen take him to another investigation room, in the area of the Matak and post office. The secret servicemen tell us we have nothing to worry about, but Andrea says that what we see actually worries us. After five minutes they return him and let him go.
Outside the checkpoint we asked him what it was all about. He said he was born in the US and that his ID said so. He was again and again asked about that and he said that when he was taken to the new building he saw someone "like a psychologist or something" who again asked him if he had been born in the USA and then he was released. Strange story, although we have heard that Palestinians with US documents are encouraged to give up their Israeli ids.
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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