'Atarot, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 24.1.10, Afternoon

Place:

Qalandiya

'Atarot

Jaba (Lil)

Observers:

A guest from England, Roni Hammerman, Tamar Fleishman (reporting and taking photos)

Jan-24-2010

Afternoon

Atarot Checkpoint:

According to the paper this checkpoint is about to be taken down. But as it usually goes in the occupation, there can be no vacuum, and the checkpoint is merely going to be rebuilt by Ofer base, that is if they carry out the decision made by the High Court of Justice and road 443 will be open for Palestinian drivers.
It's cold at the CP

Until then the checkpoint will continue to be manned by BP soldiers, who detain those driving on road 443 from Tel Aviv to East Jerusalem and Ramala.

A chain of spikes tied to a rope was placed in front of the soldiers' post, ready for they to spread it at any moment.

Those manning the post had also read the article. They asked that we take a picture of them in front of the checkpoint and put it on our Facebook site.

Qalandiya Checkpiont:

It was very cold at Qalandya checkpoint. The chill, the faint light, the polluted air and the strong wind which carried grains of dust that entered our eyes and made it hard to see, added to the depressing atmosphere hovering there. The owners of the stands at the entrance to the checkpoint were troubled: "There are a lot of police men at the checkpoint", they said, fearing that those officers might hold another raid on their few possessions.
צילום תמר פ.

The people the peddlers had thought were police men turned out to be eight-teen new recruits of the civil security unit, who were patrolling the checkpoint and getting instructions from the more experienced security men.

There is no doubt that the security men's uniforms were intended to look like the police men's uniforms.

The metal detector (at lane number 4) was over sensitive again. This time it was I who was its victim. Even though I didn't have a shred of metal on me, the beeping wouldn't stop. After trying to pass under it again and again... and after the Palestinians who had remained at the other side of the fence giving me all sorts of advice: "maybe it's from you bra... maybe it's you watch... maybe you should take off your shoes...."- and all for nothing, I was taken into the inner room (an order I got from the loud speaker), the door led me to another room- perhaps a cubical - which was further inside the place, it had a bullet proof window, which was looking upon the soldier's post. The loud speaker let me know that the police officer would soon arrive and deal with me. Many minutes passed, but the officer didn't show up. Then the woman soldier remembered that a male police officer couldn't perform a physical inspection on a woman (apparently they don't have many female officers), and I was forced to reveal the upper part of my body to the soldier at the other side of the window. Only once they were convinced that I wasn't carrying any explosives on me, I was permitted to pass to the other side of the checkpoint, and the Palestinians were able to continue and attempt to pass through the checkpoint.

I think that as an Israeli who is protected from the harassments and abuse, having been born at the right tribe and having the "right" look and accent, this event might be seen silly and absurd. But I can never avoid thinking what a Palestinian woman or girl must go through, when she is taken into the solitary room and stand in front of the hostile eyes and voices of strangers, only because the metal detector had been out of order for several weeks.

Jaba checkpoint:

Three soldiers hurried with joy to greet us, they didn't want to argue but just to talk. We learned that:

"We like it here at the checkpoint, we get to know a lot of Arabs and become friends with them while we detain them, we get to learn a lot about their culture, about Ramalla- there are plenty of nice restaurants over there, and even an amusement park..."

All and all: "It's every soldier's dream to visit Ramalla...."

We also heard that: on Friday an explosive baggage was thrown at Qalandya, that in order to head on that road, there are some Jews that pretend to be Arabs and start talking with an Arab accent, which is very dangerous. As proof they told us that a military vehicle was stoned over there a week earlier, after all "the Palestinians are hardly saints"- they said (who is?), after soldiers were lynched at Ramalla at 2004.

We also taught them something (and they really were interested), we gave them a lesson in geography regarding the area surrounding them- where the Israeli zone ended, about the different areas: A, B, C and the differences between them, that from our experience we have learned that it's only dangerous for people in uniforms to head on the road to Qalandya, which is forbidden to us.

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)

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-17-2024

Tamar Fleishman

Qalandiya: Ibrahim and behind him Abu-Abdallah

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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.