'Atarot, Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 17.1.10, Afternoon

Place:

Qalandiya

'Atarot

Jaba (Lil)

Hizma

Observers:

Nurit Yarden (photos) and Tamar Fleishman (reporting and photographing)

Jan-17-2010

Afternoon

Qalandiya checkpoint:

"One person's troubles are another person's good fortune..." - a free translation of an Arab saying that the cab drivers recite each time there is a line at the checkpoint; These drives, who have yellow plats, are allowed into Jerusalem, arrive with a long line of transit cars yelling: "Al-Quds!!!... Al-Quds!!!". For ten Shekels they drive all those who weren't lucky enough to have a resident ID to Hizme in a long line of transits.

They also asked, perhaps in humor, that we won't get in their way while they make their living, by hurrying the soldiers with their inspections, because when there are many people at the checkpoint- their profits rise.

- After fifteen minutes of waiting to enter the inspection zone, a voice from above announced that all those with blue IDs must move to another line. Those who were first in line were now the last, and they started a new recount of the waiting time among the mass of people.

The metal detector was especially sensitive and beeped without any regard to what passed under it; It shrilled when a group of young women/girls passed under it with a baby info-icon in their hands. They took their coats off, their jewelry off and their shoes off- they machine kept beeping. When they dared to giggle with embarrassment one at the other, the soldier at the load speaker spoke out: "Is something amusing you?" and the group was taken to a different line.

- A 40 year old man that wasn't permitted to pass was left resentful and frustrated.
Preparing a lane for V.I.Ps (photo by Tamar Fleishman)

For over ten years he had been living with his family (his wife and their five children) at Atarot; they have a temporal "family reunion" permit that had been renewed every once in a while in the routine procedure. Lately, the authorities refused to renew this permit thus destroying his daily routine. Ever since he had been trying to pass through Qalandya checkpoint on his way home, which is only a few minutes walk from there. He is usually sent back. It is only by chance that he gets to pass: "The women soldiers are the worse, the male ones aren't as bad", he said. He told us that a couple of days before a woman soldier that wouldn't let him pass added insult to injury and said: "Go to god, he is the only one that's going to renew your permit!".

-By the separation wall that is southern to the new wing that is about to open, a road is being paved.

Jaba checkpoint:

A commanding officer that remembered us (http://www.machsomwatch.org/en/reports/checkpoints/07/01/2010/afternoon/13453) crossed the road to greet us, as though we were old acquaintances. This time, even though he recited the same text regarding the necessity of this (redundant) checkpoint, he wanted to listen as well as talk. It was a unique occasion in which real conversation was held, and not just two uncommunicative monologs. What we learned from him was: "I make sure that the people in my team won't abuse the Palestinians, I know there are also other kinds of soldiers, the kind that takes a dump in pots as they search a house. Those aren't my men. It's very important for me that they treat human beings as human beings."

What did he learn from us? What did he take from our conversation? - We can't say.

Hizme checkpoint:

A soldier from the passages unit stopped us and said that what was written on our site (http://www.machsomwatch.org/en/reports/checkpoints/31/12/2009/afternoon/13376) wasn't accurate: The child who was mentioned in the report didn't have his birth certificate, but the soldiers assumed he was older then what he told them, and therefore he had to wait until his father arrived with the documents to verify his story.

When we asked him why they had detained the guy that had bough gas containers at the West Bank, and why they had confiscated the eggs he had bough a week earlier, he replied: There is always a chance that there might be an explosive substance inside the container. As for the eggs: since he didn't have a permit from the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture for them, they might have been infected and therefore highly dangers.

So here we are correcting our mistake, and the soldier's claims here are in his words.

But the question remains unanswered: Is the passage unit in charge for the health of the public or is it only in charge of its security?

Location Description

Jaba (Lil)

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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)

Hizma

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A checkpoint at the north-eastern entrance to the Jerusalem area which was annexed in 1967, at Pisgat Zeev. The passage is allowed to bearers of blue IDs only. Open 24 hours a day.

Qalandiya Checkpoint

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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)

Apr-5-2024

Tamar Fleishman

Qalandiya: Four women from Nablus are refused crossing the checkpoint to pray

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Atarot

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Atarot was a workers' settlement destroyed during the War of Independence, where the Arab village of Qalandiya now stands, in the southwestern part of Atarot Airport, built by the British Mandate. After 1967, the Atarot industrial zone was established nearby, and until the completion of the wall from the Qalandiya checkpoint to Road 443, a checkpoint was in place. A new Jewish neighborhood is currently planned for the old airport area.