Qalandiya, Wed 27.5.09, Morning
A "regular" day at Qalandiya checkpoint. As always, the absence of the thousands of Palestinians who used to go through this crossroad to the southern suburbs of Ramallah (A-Ram), north of Jerusalem (Bet Hanina, Dahiat Al Barid and Shuafat), East Jerusalem and eastward is heavily felt. The few lucky Jerusalemites and permit holders are used to the shouts coming out of the loudspeakers and somehow manage to understand what the soldiers say, which is unintelligible for us.
We find the usual men sitting idle on the metal benches at the northern side of the checkpoint. They explain that they do not have a permit to work in Israel but some of them do get in somehow. The others are there just waiting, as they don't have other work alternatives. Waiting for what? Maybe an asteroid will hit Earth and things will change. One of them tells us he was caught this morning and his finger prints were registered and he was returned to the checkpoint.
Muhammad is waiting for us for almost an hour. He worked, with a permit, for 17 years in agriculture in the area of Nataf and before he got his severance payment, his boss managed to accuse him of theft and then he was apprehended. Although the police are not pressing charges for lack of proof, it will take a lawyer to close the police file and hundreds of NIS, which he gives us to convey to the lawyer. This, as Haya O. explained, doesn't mean he will be able to work again in Israel because the fact that he got a police file, even if without proof, means he will be automatically forbidden to go into Israel for at leas 1.5 years. He is not aware of these procedures and believes that after he pays for closing the file he will again get his permit and will talk to his ex employer who will probably give him the 60,000 NIS he owes him (!?).
Our guest, an Italian professor of Jewish contemporary history and contemporary Israeli literature is very quiet during all our shift, watching the car and pedestrian lanes going southward. When we cross the pedestrian checkpoint southward at the end of our shift, she sees the greetings in Hebrew, English and Arabic (we don't know what is written in Arabic), wishing pedestrians "Have a safe and pleasant stay". She is shocked by these greetings in the context of the surrounding cages, walls, fences, barbed wire, loudspeakers, closed circuit cameras and weapons. She tells us that every diplomat and visitor to Israel should be taken, obligatorily, to 2 sites: Yad Vashem and Qalandiya checkpoint.
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-27-2025Qalandiya: A beggar woman
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