Qalandiya
I saw them arriving at the checkpoint,l a father leading his 12-year old daughter – a girl, almost adolescent, with symptoms of cerebral palsy seated in a pram, her lower body tied, legs fixed, hands moving involuntarily and a head dropping uncontrolled to either side.
They have come all the way from Jenin, headed for Muqassad Hospital in East Jerusalem.
When I returned 40 minutes later they were still there, the father and the daughter and the pram, facing locked gates.
They had an exit permit from Jerusalem, they had a summons to the hospital, they also had a promise from the woman-soldier in the secured front post who told them 40 minutes ago “just five more minutes”. The only thing missing was someone to open the gates.
Not that the checkpoint lacks gates for prams and carts. There are. But it’s been years now since the automaton opening them at the press of a button is out of order, and someone needs to bring a key…
The father stood and waited, and from time to time straightened his daughter’s head as it dropped to the side, and wiped her forehead with a piece of cloth.
Joining the father and daughter, I lack Palestinian patience, but I do have the privilege of language, assertiveness and accumulated knowledge about how far I can stretch limits. I began with phone rounds to whoever they are, on the ruling and executing side as I have their phone numbers (well, just a few).
At the end of a charged hour a DCO officer finally arrived and let the three of us through four gates between the Palestinian and the Jerusalemite sides of the checkpoint.
Now all that was left to do was to locate the bus going to Makassed.
When the driver opened the middle door of the bus, and lowered the platform for the father to place the pram with his daughter safely inside, and I stayed on the sidewalk, I felt I had a lump of shit stuck in my soul.
Preparations for Ramadan are being completed.
New tracks have been paved, barriers and fortified posts in place.
An armed Border Police contingent secured a steamroller preparing a road along the Separation Wall.
Without warning and no apparent reason, one of the armed men raised his rifle and let out a teargas canister like a person passing wind (farting) in a closed hall.
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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