Reasonable morning in Qalandiya
05.30. Dark and cold. Groups gathered around small fires.
Inside the shed there were hardly any queues and five checking stations were open. We were glad to see the beigel seller once again present: the falafel counter was open, and the tea kiosk is now moved to a new place.
In fact, conditions were reasonable and we could have left before 7, but our visitors naturally wanted to see the surroundings and to photograph. After dawn we took them towards Qalandiya refugee camp and to see the graffiti on the wall. We then went to the very orderly kiosk near the entrance for public transport. There Iman explained that he is in charge of the parking lot there (the private parking lot owned by his family). The year is coming to an end, but still no sign of the new building’s imminent opening.
When we returned we found security guards already there, but no D.C.O. officer. Indeed there was no need to open the humanitarian gate. At one stage the guards went out of the shed in the direction of the vehicle checkpoint.
Our three visitors had come to Israel with Taglit which has now opened its lists to people up to 30 years of age. They started by travelling north. According to them, when they saw the wall they started asking questions. As the answers seemed very one-sided they asked if they would also hear other points of view. The tour organisers (and their financial sources) did not like this. And so, when they returned to Tel Aviv, the three were thrown out of the program. They were given the choice of being taken directly to Ben Gurion airport to return home or – if they wanted to remain – to take their baggage and leave. In this case they would be responsible for their own accommodation and upkeep, and for paying for their flight to the U.S.A. It was claimed that they had disobeyed the conditions of their contract with Taglit, but when they asked what clause, they received no answer. They decided to remain to discover on their own other aspects of the country, and thus they reached us.
After 7 we joined one of the short lines. It turned out that Taglit had taken from all the group the visa chit that one gets on entrance to Israel, which one must return on exiting, and had not yet given them back. From past experience we knew that this was likely to cause a problem at the checking station. So Ronit went first with the two girls. Ronit passed without difficulty, but she could not manage to persuade the soldiers to let the visitors through. Then the soldiers suddenly found it necessary for Ronit to show membership of Machsomwatch – which she did by showing her (impressive) bag. In the end, Ronit fetched the car and drove through to the Palestinian side of the checkpoint, picking up Chana and all three visitors and we drove via Hizmeh – a checkpoint used mainly by settlers and where Jewish-looking carloads are not examined. But while they were waiting for Ronit’s car, in the shed a woman arrived in a wheelchair with a caregiver. They had been told that someone would come to open the humanitarian gate. Chana phoned and was also told that help would be coming. The man accompanying the woman said that they are used to this and someone does come in the end, but sometimes they have to wait a very long time.
Jaba checkpoint after A-Ram was manned but traffic was not delayed in either direction. Luckily the road to Hizmeh and afterward was reasonably traffic-clear. During our drive, one visitor was told by e-mail that his medical insurance issued through Taglit had been cancelled … let us hope that today their visa slips will be returned to them so that they can continue with their plans to visit festive Bethlehem this evening.
Jaba' (Lil)
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Jaba' (Lil) In fact, the Jaba checkpoint is east of the Qalandiya checkpoint. Its declared purpose is the prevention of Israeli citizens from entering Area A. A road checkpoint for vehicles, located on Road 65, borders the southern fence of Kfar Jaba, about three kilometers east of the Qalandiya checkpoint, on the road leading to the settlement of Adam on Road 60. Archaeological excavations within the village found the remains of a cloth house from the First Temple period. The events that led to the construction of the checkpoint are precisely here: on the day of the abduction of Gilad Shalit and before the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, a 17-year-old man from one of the settlements was abducted by a Palestinian cell. His body was found several days later at the entrances to Ramallah. A military investigation revealed that his abductors had taken him along this route. The checkpoint was set up to prevent future kidnappings and to warn settlers from traveling to Ramallah and entering Area A (which is forbidden for Israelis). The checkpoint that operates around the clock. Usually only vehicles traveling in the direction of Ramallah are inspected. (November 2016): Every morning, when the settlers en masse travel to Jerusalem on Route 60 and every afternoon they return from Jerusalem on Route 60, the army initiates a traffic jam at the entrance to the Jaba checkpoint and stops the movement of Palestinians traveling toward Route 60. (February 2020): In the last two years the checkpoint has not always been manned. Sometimes the soldiers come and just stand, sometimes they come and stop and check those who enter the village, sometimes they patrol the alleys of the village, sometimes they fire stun grenades and gas and sometimes they invade houses and stop young people, say those passing through the Hazma checkpoint. (Updated February 2020)
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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 FleishmanNov-30-2025Qalandiya: Puddles and dirt after the rain
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