Qalandiya
Third Friday of Ramadan Month
The checkpoint was swarming with armed Israelis.
There were down below, and on the side, in front and in back, but worst was seeing them up above, their rifle barrels pointed at the heads of the thousands of women on their way below, to the Al Aqsa Mosque.
As is the case every year on the third Ramadan Friday, this time too people swarmed to the checkpoint.
They made their way on private and public vehicles, motorized and on foot, babies on their shoulders, children clutching their hands for fear of getting lost in the crush.
Human movement filled the dirt tracks, the roads and the thorny and rocky mounds.
For this was perhaps their last chance this year to get to Al Aqsa for prayer. True, another Friday awaits them in this Ramadan month, but reality has taught the Palestinians that one never knows what the future might bring and which new draconian edicts are being hatched in the minds of their rulers that might get in their way.
At the entry and inside the inner circle, in the demarcated sterile area, there were several meticulous selection posts that created bottlenecks.
For the calling up of forty persons, the previous group was released, the stream was let through, forty people were counted, then everything froze again and people waited until the present forty were through being inspected, and the entire cycle repeated itself.
Anyone caught not up to standard – not precisely, but precisely according to the set criteria, not just close to them but precisely – he was doomed. Out. His happened to a father who had come with his two sons, the one “fit”, the other “unfit” – a boy barely over twelve years of age. To the order issued from above, the Border Policewoman pulled the “unfit” son’s hand, that pulled on his “fit” brother’s, and the father who did hold a permit to get through to prayer, in other words found “fit”, left with his children.
This week too one could not but notice the Palestinian policemen and the Palestinian VIP group accompanied by Israeli senior officials who were proudly getting a look at this exemplary security cooperation.
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 FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
-