Re-education of the Hizma villagers
Re-educating the villagers of Hizma
For three weeks now, every single day from morning till night, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., the Israeli army has been laying siege to Hizma village and preventing Israeli vehicles – belonging to both Jews and Arabs – from entering.
It’s been three consecutive weeks so far.
And whoever, for lack of choice – I for instance – leave their vehicle outside the village and walk in, are followed by shouts: ‘It’s forbidden!!”
The automatic answer to my “Why??” was that “the General Security Services (Shabak)…”
Ten minutes later, after the woman-soldier who answered me consulted someone on the phone, she spoke of children from this village who throw stones at Israeli vehicles travelling this road (road 60) and that a while ago such a stone shattered the windshield of an Israeli bus.
- So because of a few children you’ve been punishing all the villagers?
- That was the Brigade Commander’s decision.
- You know that collective punishment is a violation of international law?
- That Brigade Commander must have looked into it and said they have to be
I don’t know if children have been throwing stones or not. I do know that Hizma, most of whose lands were robbed for the sake of constructing the checkpoint and settler-colonies, has been dependent for the livelihood of its inhabitants on Jerusalemites and settler-colonists coming to the village for shopping and car repairs.
On a bench opposite the windows looking at the DCO offices in the Qalandiya checkpoint, a young man was waiting, seated, for his request to enter Jerusalem and visit his family.
A year and a half ago, as he returned from his college studies in England, he discovered to his amazement that his 4-year absence deprived him of his Israeli blue ID, that he was no longer a resident of Jerusalem where he was born and raised, and that he was now an exile from his home and family.
Minutes before the DCO offices were closed, after a two-and-a-half hour wait, the young man received his document.
It was hard to tell whether the body under the blanket was alive or not.
It’s a woman, said the Red Crescent man, she’s unconscious. She’s been examined at Muqassad Hospital in East Jerusalem, and is being returned for hospitalization and treatment in Ramallah.
In hindsight I thought it was better for her to be covered with a blanket over her head, for the fine dust filling the air was infiltrating every nook and cranny, and would not have bettered her condition.
Hizma
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Hizma
A checkpoint at the north-eastern entrance to the Jerusalem area which was annexed in 1967, at Pisgat Zeev. The passage is allowed to bearers of blue IDs only. Open 24 hours a day.
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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-6-2025Qalandiya: Abdallah sitting next to his father
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