Qalandiya, Wed 5.10.11, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
We arrived before 5:30; the line stretched to the checkpoint’s parking lot. People looked very tired.
A few minutes after we arrived it began to be congested and people crowded around the entrance to the inspection area. As always, we telephoned the DCO and the humanitarian office to complain that only three corridors were open at the time crowding was greatest.
The DCO officer arrived at 6 and let through all the people waiting at the humanitarian gate. Two more corridors opened. A Kafkaesque scene developed before our eyes as a man with heart disease, unable to push into the line at the revolving gate, on his way to Hadassah for a periodic checkup, also asked to go through the humanitarian gate. He had great difficulty explaining that he’s employed, he’s receiving excellent treatment for his heart disease by the professor at Hadassah, which allows him to live a regular life and to work. For a moment it seemed his work permit would be cancelled because a work permit and heart disease don’t go together. They don’t care that the patient has also a one-time entry permit to Israel for the hospital appointment!
Finally the world returned to normal, and that a man was both employed and had a doctor’s appointment no longer seemed contradictory.
We took with us the Kafakaesque impression this little incident made on us when we left.
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 FleishmanJun-28-2026Qalandiya. The bridge leading from Jerusalem to the Qalandiya checkpoint
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