Qalandiya - In the morning he was released from hospital in Qalqiliya but did not get a permit to go on to Gaza

Place:

Hizma

Jaba (Lil)

Qalandiya

Tags:

Passage Restrictions

Observers:

Tamar Fleishman; Translator: Tal H.

Feb-23-2020

Afternoon

Works in and around Qalandiya checkpoint

Photo:

!Tamar Fleishman

Inside and around Qalandiya Checkpoint hectic work is being carried out.

It is all done in order to finish before the Ramadan month begins, for the great show put on then. “We do it for you” they say, line us up in straight lines and lead us as if we were donkeys, says a Qalandiya refugee camp resident.

Walid, his many years and hardships telling, stood on the road, desperate and confused.

In the morning he was released from hospital in Qalqiliya, was told to come to Qalandiya, where he would ask for and be issued a permit to go on home to Gaza.

But as he came and got in and requested his permit, he was told to come on the morrow.

Walid and his wife have no relatives in the West Bank with whom they could stay the night.

So what do they do until tomorrow?

I’ve worked for Israel all my life, says Walid. I worked at the Rafah terminal, and in the settler-colony of Neot Sinai, and now when I’m sick and old they throw me to the dogs.

We few who gathered around him held a kind of collection and equipped him with a modest sum of money that might enable the couple to afford to spend the night in Ramallah.

Later, when the shameful bulldozer outrage caused another round of fire and the Israeli Army Spokesperson announced that Gaza crossings were being closed, I wondered what would happen with Walid on the morrow, and with all the other Walids…

***

At Jaba road barrier located beneath the village of Jaba, overlooking the junction crossing road 60, stood soldiers – two on each roadside.

As the uninvited guest (me) arrived, all four gathered and were happy to be photographed as if they were talkative army gear models.

Soldiers at Jaba checkpoint

Photo:

!Tamar Fleishman

They told me they were keeping us secure, that they search for suspicious objects inside vehicles, that if there is a warning about some “incriminated” Palestinian they search the person who is supposedly a terrorist and arrest him. To my question whether they detain Palestinian cars here so that the Jewish settler-colonists using road 60 will have it all to themselves, one soldier said yes, and hurried to say – also.

And the masks on your faces are for keeping you anonymous? -No, it’s cold and it’s not army issue, we buy them on our own.

An army vehicle parked at the entrance to Hizma village.

Photo:

!Tamar Fleishman

An army vehicle parked at the entrance to Hizma village. They’ve already been here for two hours.

Sometimes they just come and stand here, at others they come and stop and inspect anyone entering the village, or patrol the village alleys, sometimes they fire stun and teargas grenades and invade homes and arrest youngsters, Hizma villagers tell me.

What can be said about the ongoing army activity in this village is simply that it sows fear and hatred in the hearts of its inhabitants, or as the army puts it: carries out harassment activity.

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: The men who were refused passage, return

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