Qalandiya - the jewelry did not pass the metal detector test
The jewelry created the havoc that made the soldiers go berserk and hyperactive, stopped from moving on, froze the entire checkpoint and made me anxious about what happened to the girl who wore it.
The necklace, made of gems and set into metal, was sewn onto the dress and irremovable.
When the young 18-year-old woman came with her mother to the checkpoint, on their way home to Jerusalem, the jewelry did not pass the metal detector test.
That is when the soldiers went berserk, closed the passage off and anyone arriving had to wait outside the inspection area.
The young woman was detained with her mother.
I stood next to them. A soldier tried to remove me, threatening and verbally abusing me, and I claimed that I was with them, and with them I stay.
We immediately became intimate strangers. A group of three. Standing and waiting.
After some minutes, the PA system sounded an order for the daughter to enter a side room. The mother who wished to join her was not allowed to do so. Only the daughter. And ?
My heart was beating in fear. Echoing a sexual assault experienced by a young woman at the hands of a Shabak interrogator with whom she was closed inside the caravan, and as I waited for her to exit I also recalled the last case publicized, of a gang rape as two female soldier stuck their fingers into a woman’s private parts.
I remained with the mother. I did not dare tell her of the horror that I felt, nor did she say anything to me. We stood silent. Each woman with herself and her thoughts and worries. After a while we heard, “Take your blouse off!” and then silence, and again, “Take your blouse off!” and a pause. Thus 3-4 times or more. For me, the only one understanding Hebrew in this place, it was obvious that over there, in the inside rooms, communications fails as the recipient of these orders understands not a word.
I have no idea how the language problem was solved inside. I also have no idea what went on in there, I only remember my feeling at an incident in which I didn’t withstand the metal detector test and was made to strip in front of an armored glass window behind which a female soldier was watching.
After quite a while the young woman came back, silent and confused, and we left.
Some way from there, opposite the refugee camp, the scorched wall and track with its black potholes and remains of tires burnt and rolled towards the checkpoint, and the casings of shells and grenades thrown at the protestors, are silent witnesses to what went on here during the attack against Al Aqsa Mosque, at the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and the latest round of war on Gaza.
הלאה משם, מול מחנה הפליטים, החומה מלאת הכוויות והדרך החרוכה שלאורכה בורות שחורים עם שרידי צמיגים שהובערו וגולגלו לעבר המחסום ורצף של תרמילי פגזים ורימונים שהושלכו על המוחים, הם אדים אילמים לאשר התרחש כאן במהלך התקיפה על אל-אקצה, בשייך ג’ראח והמלחמה בעזה.
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 FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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