Qalandiya, Sun 10.10.10, Afternoon

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Observers:

Roni Hammermann and Tamar Fleishman (reporting); Guest: Hila; Translation: Ruth Fleishman.

Oct-10-2010

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Afternoon

Seriously? Does this make us safer?

-On the northern side (the Palestinian side) of the vehicle checkpoint was an ambulance trying to squeeze inside the line of cars that were glued together. Once the soldiers in the tower erected just above noticed this, a voice emerged: "Ambulance! Get back to the traffic circle!" cause the ambulance to push back.
The driver wouldn't stop trying. Again and again the ambulance advanced in violation of the local rule, approaching the imaginary line which can be passed only when the order the heard. The voice from above was more aggressive and shot then before: "Ambulance, get back!"

In hindsight we learned that the driver was trying to draw the attention of the commanders of the checkpoint to the fact that he had a yellow license plate: "I'm from Jerusalem". He had been driving back and forth for about an hour, and was sent away over and over again. Phone calls were made and eventually he was permitted to enter the checkpoint. Then they inspected the vehicle, the documents, the patient's privet possessions ("bad hurt condition") and the medical equipment to which he was connected. Anything to make sure they did impose a risk to the safety of the country.

Later on we met the ambulance driver again, this time he was bringing a woman who had over gone surgery on her foot, back to Ramalla. The ambulance from Jerusalem had to take the patient to an ambulance from the Palestinian side, everything went according to regulations, without any unusual detainments: the gurney was surrounded by many people who held it, the documents needed to identify all those involved in the procedure were inspected thoroughly, the woman was lifted in the air by four men while she was moaning from pain, she was taken off the gurney she lied in and place in another from the occupied territories, then she was taken into the Palestinian ambulance and driven home.

- Two policemen from the "motorcycle unit" were situated during the whole time at the bus parking lot. They were there when we arrived and remained there until sunset. They diligently inspected the condition of the tires on the vehicles heading to Palestine, and sent the drivers off only after having given them a ticket. - Quite a revenue for The Treasury.

-An armoured police vehicle with metal bars on all sides appeared out of the blue from the direction of Jerusalem. Three men with dirty/washed out clothes, evidence that they were labourers, were taken off the vehicle and had an armed police woman escort them to the Palestinian side, making sure they went in.
The three, who lived in the village Husan, were caught working at a construction site at Beit Israel neighbourhood without a work permit. They didn't get a chance to change their clothes and take their belongings. The "hunters" shoved them into the police vehicle while cursing them: "You mustn't be here... You sons of bitches... you liars...." When the eldest one among them tried to speak in their defence, saying they weren't terrorists, that they only wanted to make a living, he was replayed: "Shut up!" A younger man told us that he asked the policeman cursing them whether he spoke this way to his father as well: "He is almost sixty years old, he could be your father...", the attempt to compare the Palestinian to the his father was apparently more than the policeman could bear, so he bestowed upon the person asking more of his precious linguistic pearls.

"I have seven children..."- the man said over and over again, and after all that is the whole Torah...

Location Description

Qalandiya Checkpoint

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)

Apr-5-2024

Tamar Fleishman

Qalandiya: The men who were refused passage, return

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