Sheikh Sa'ed: Jerusalem Municipality Spokesperson had never heard of this neighborhood!
Qalandiya, Kufr Aqab, Seikh Sa’ed 4.6.25, updates up to 18.6.25
June 4, 2025
There are about 100,000 Jerusalem dwellers registered in the Ministry of Interior and another 40,000 families without family unification papers and others who are only Jerusalem residents – all living in Kufr Aqab.
Two days before Eid Al Adha (Sacrifice religious holiday) we made a date with our contact person from Kufr Aqab to meet with the resident committee and hear about the situation in the village. There were complaints about the crowding at vehicle checkpoints of Qalandiya and Jab’a checkpoints, lack of waste removal, the medical other city services that do not enter the village, and concerns about water allotment in the summer (last summer’s was particularly scarce and difficult).
Our driver was not willing to get stuck in the Qalandiya traffic so we took my car. We crossed Qalandiya Checkpoint and were surprised to find out there was no direct turn to the Ramallah road in the direction of Kufr Aqab (after crossing the checkpoint from Atarot). Everything has changed: the main road to Ramallah is blocked to traffic directed at Qalandiya refugee camp and Kufr Aqab, and one can only continue toward Jab’a until the next traffic circle. We took the turn guided by our phone but the right one and got back to the checkpoint. Drivers were surprised to see us stuck in traffic and warned us we would not be allowed to exit. When we got there it seemed the army wouldn’t let Israelis enter Qalandiya at the vehicle checkpoint. They wanted to know what we were doing there, took our IDs and gave the, back with a warning.
Although our contact person tried to reach us, we found no parking outside the checkpoint and the meeting was cancelled. We made a Zoom date after the holiday.
Updates since the war with Iran:
Our meeting took place one week after the beginning of the war with Iran. We heard waste was removed just before the holiday, and traffic was lighter because of the war. Qalandiya Checkpoint was operating nearly normally, and Jab’a Checkpoint opens when its operators feel like it. There are no alarm sirens in Kufr Aqab and no protective spaces. Many interceptions in the sky, but no Israeli firefighters or medical teams entering the locality.
Sheikh Sa’ed:
Our contact person in the neighborhood called and said that since the Iran war, both the Jabal Mukabar and Sawahra Al Gharbiya Checkpoints were closed. Even holders of Bluie (Israelis) IDs who are Jerusalem residents can cross only from A-Za’im which is an hour-and-a-half’s drive away. Inhabitants are worried about losing contact with their mother neighborhood of Jabal Mukabar. Students of high schools at Jabal Mukabar and East Jerusalem are supposed to take their matriculation exams on Saturday and have no idea if they would get there on time.
We suggested to the neighborhood committee to email and notify the mayor and municipality spokesperson for East Jerusalem. We gave them the appropriate phone numbers and email address. They managed to speak with the spokesperson and wrote the mayor. The spokesperson did not even know where Sheikh Sa’ed is. He had never heard of this neighborhood!
We were notified of installing new checkpoints at the main entrances of Hizma and Anata to the road leading to Qalandiya and the northern part of the West Bank. In other words, movement space of residents inside Area B and even Area A are being closed
Location Description
Kufr 'Aqab
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Kufr 'Aqab
25,000 people live in this village, and since the erection of the Separation Wall, it has been disconnected from Jerusalem and become a neighborhood totally abandoned as far as law enforcement and planning and construction are concerned. The thousands of inhabitants of this undefined urban area pay municipal taxes to the city of Jerusalem but the Israeli authorities – municipality, police, and various service companies – hardly enter these places, and the Palestinian authorities avoid them too since the Oslo Accords forbid them to act within Jerusalem’s jurisdiction.
MachsomWatch teams coming to their Qalandiya vigils sometimes go through the village itself, and the organization’s tours include the enclaves north of Jerusalem.
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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 FleishmanJun-25-2025Qalandia: West Bank man injured in both legs
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Sheikh Sa'ed
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A checkpoint limited to pedestrians, located on Jerusalem’s municipal boundary.
The checkpoint sits on the separation fence at the entrance to Sheikh Sa’ad, dividing it from its neighbourhood of Jabel Mukkabar. It’s manned by Border Police soldiers and private security companies and operates 24 hours a day. Palestinians are forbidden to go through, other than residents of Jabel Mukkabar or Sheikh Sa'ad who have permits. Both groups are permitted through only on foot. Residents of East Jerusalem who don’t live in Jabel Mukkabar are also allowed to cross to Sheikh Sa’ad, but not in the opposite direction; they must return through the Sawahira ash Sharqiya checkpoint.
Anat TuegJul-9-2025Jerusalem: Blockade on Highway 398 on the way to the South of the West Bank
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