Turmos Aya: Jewish terrorism runs and rampages unhindered
I write this painful report as right now the colonists are on the news again, attacking Palestinian villages unprotected by the Israeli army. Can’t believe this is still going on…
After the Turmus Ayya pogrom I heard on the news that the GSS arrested two Jewish “hillside youth” thugs and that they are in custody. I have not heard anything further.
I keep repeating to myself what the 11-years-old boy from Turmus Ayya said: “I live in the US, but my home is here.” We should all remember this.
7:30 a.m. Qalandiya Checkpoint – the road and the checkpoint
We travel to Qalandiya Checkpoint through Jab’a and see two army posts at every junction and turnoff – usually one right at the junction and the other overlooking the area at a higher spot. The Israeli soldier have many more police mission now. We did not see them stopping many cars.
The riddle of the route of the road crossing the Qalandiya checkpoint benath – making the checkpoint superfluous but only for Israelis – has bothered us for quite a while now. The hint on the ground is its exit to the road from Atarot South to the Begin South highway (to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) and to Modi’in (road 443). We look for the entrance from the West Bank. The Separation Wall and internal walls do not enable us to see the earthworks. So we drove up to a viewpoint at A-Ram and then climbed the pedestrian bridge from the Palestinian side.
And still the riddle remains unanswered, as you can see in the attached photos.
On our way we experienced the checkpoint once more: 8 a.m., not crowded, but the occupation architecture is meant to reduce the passersby’s space: the car-park adjacent to the checkpoint is open to only a few vans that come from the West Bank and leave in that direction, while all the rest look for a space to park in a private car-park, and access to pedestrians from Ramallah is only through a small gate in the fence. At the checkpoint itself – long and narrow tracks slalom the people standing in line waiting to cross the turnstiles, after which there is a large, “dead” hall to cross and get the magnetic and permits checked. From there – the huge bridge over the checkpoint whose planning is absurd and inconceivable. It is hard to walk through and even constitutes a security threat. Descending from it, the trek is not yet over – one still has to cross another empty lot whose purpose is unclear, until reaching a relatively small area of bus stops headed for Jerusalem and Israel.
Road 60 from Qalandiya to Turmus Ayya, and a visit there after the previous day’s pogrom
We were shocked to see and hear the sounds and images of the pogrom which about 150 colonists held in this beautiful village after the funeral of the Jewish victims of the terrorist attack at the Eli Colony gas station. The latter took place after the Israeli army invaded Jenin and killed civilian uninvolved Palestinians, a raid taking place after… and so on, deep into the unceasing bloodshed, always presented by the Israeli media as Palestinian terrorist attacks out of any context. In these events, only Israelis are victims.
We decided to drive as far as possible to the attacked village on Road 60. We wished to check the situation in the nearby checkpoints and how the Palestinian residents are coping, and what the Israeli “security” forces are doing on the day after.
Road 60 shows no road signs directing the driver to Palestinian communities that are definitely more numerous along this road. Every colony and outpost on the other hand are clearly designated, and get two Israeli army pשosts manned by 4 soldiers at every access track. Access to Palestinian communities is only by narrow lower roads or dirt tracks distant from the entrance to the villages. We really wished to see whether any passage was blocked leading to a Jewish terrorists’ outpost, but did not want to involved our driver in any trouble.
At the entrance to Turmus Ayya there is not one representative of the Civil Administration or “security” forces. Thus too on the two roads where the inhumane colonists had run amuck, descending on the village from the surrounding hilltops. Nor is there any sign of anyone representing the occupation authorities who should be assessing the destruction and helping the villagers with their trauma. No one is accepting any responsibility, just as no one tried to stop the pogrom.
The villagers are in a state of joint mourning, sitting with their neighbors and discussing what has happened. They are way of cameras and do not intend to turn to foreign embassies at this point. They feel that everyone is collaborating with whatever Israel is doing. Hanna reports from Yesh Din that when they tried to call up the American Embassy, even at the emergency numbers – no one answered!
The village is beautiful and groomed, and now in the summer houses built by villagers who had emigrated abroad are filled with relatives holding foreign passports who have come to stay with their grandparents and uncles and aunts. We took pictures of the burnt cars and were invited to enter a house inhabited by Palestinians and 14 American guests. At the last minute one of them managed to close a metal inner door and climb up to the attic – old people, women and children. Windows on the first and second floors were smashed and firebombs thrown into the house. An 11-years-old boy spoke shortly about his 8-years-old cousin who stayed outside and colonists chased him and even shot at him.
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
See all reports for this place-
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
-
Tunnels CP
See all reports for this place-
Tunnels CP
A checkpoint on Road 60, west of the entrance to Beit Jala. The checkpoint is manned by the army, Border Police and private security companies. Palestinian crossing is prohibited, except for residents of East Jerusalem.
-
Turmus Aya
See all reports for this place-
Turmus Aya is a beautiful and well-kept Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bira governorate, located in the Shiloh Valley, about 22 km north of Ramallah. Near Highway 60 at an altitude of about 732 m. In 2016, 4,781 residents lived in the town. After the 2nd intifada in 2001, hundreds immigrated to the US, but they come in the summer to visit their families and live in the nice houses they built.
Israel expropriated 752 dunams of the town's land for the establishment of the Shiloh settlement, in 1978, and another 372 dunams for the establishment of the Shebot Rachel settlement in 1992. According to the Oslo Agreement, the built-up area of TAos Aya was classified as area B. This area constitutes 64.7% of the town's land, and the rest, 35.3%, is area C.
Starting in 2015, the town's residents often suffer from harassment from the settlers of the Adi Ad outpost, which include the uprooting and cutting of olive trees, the burning of wheat fields and the spraying of anti-Netzka inscriptions.
On June 21, 2023, dozens of young people from outposts and surrounding settlements carried out a pogrom in broad daylight after the funeral of the victims of the attack that occurred two days earlier at the gas station in the settlement of Eli. The attack took place after the Israel Defense Forces' invasion of Jenin and the killing of innocents in the process - an invasion that took place after a previous event... and so on, deep into the non-stop blood equation that is always presented in Israel as terror attacks without context. They set fire to about 60 cars and about 30 houses with their occupants and threw stones, fire grenades and even shot from guns.The IDF soldiers watched the attack but didn't intervene. A villager was killed by soldier fire. Only 3 settlers were arrested after a few days, but charges have not yet been filed against them.
-