Qalandiya – a quiet day without incidents

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Chana Stein (translating), Ronit Dahan-Ramati (reporting)

Oct-26-2022

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Morning

A chilly and calm morning in Qalandiya. We continue to park on the Palestinian side because due to the works on the Israeli side there is no place to park there. We arrived around a quarter to six. A cloudy and overcast day, clouds cover the sky and you don't see the breaking dawn. It is evident that shortly before we arrived it had rained. The smell of smoke is in the air, but you can't see where it's coming from.

We went towards the checkpoint compound. Our friend Abu Ramzi, the pretzel seller, is not in his usual place. The falafel and other food stand are up and running as usual, with their operators dressed in nylon jackets against the rain. We wondered if because of the rain Abu Ramzi did not come this morning, but when we approached the checkpoint we found him and the cake seller standing under the shed. The rain drove them there earlier, and luckily no one came to banish them. Shortly after we arrived, Abu Ramzi finished selling the goods he had brought and left.

During our entire stay, there were no queues. The three entrances were open all the time and the people who arrived entered immediately without delays. Let's hope this is a sign of things to come. At one point, a woman arrived with a toddler in a stroller. She went to the stand next to the gate that could be opened to the passage without turnstiles and rang her phone. People approached her to offer help, but she said everything was fine. And really, within a few minutes, a security guard or a policeman came and opened the gate for her. We wondered if there was now an answer to the general number, or maybe she had the personal number of that policeman/security guard. She seemed to know that she would be helped to enter, and indeed she was.

The flow of people continued as usual both from the entrance to the checkpoint complex from the east and of young people climbing the fence from the direction of Qalandiya. Everyone entered immediately. Since it was like this during our entire stay, we left after about an hour, at a quarter to seven. This time I did not cross over to the Israeli side of the checkpoint, because it really seemed that no one was delayed in crossing.

When we got back to the car it was already light and the sun began to shine through the clouds. We asked the parking operator about the burnt smell from the direction of A-Ram. He did not know what the exact source of this was, but he reassured us that it was not due to demonstrations or military activity. According to him, A-Ram is quiet. "Probably just burning trash". We drove through A-Ram towards the Jabba-Geva Binyamin intersection (Adam). Before the junction, the Jabba temporary checkpoint was manned but the crossing was quite fast. After the checkpoint we reached the intersection and turned to return to Jerusalem via Hizmeh. The traffic situation up to the Hizmeh checkpoint was reasonable, but the usual morning traffic jams started from Pisgat Zeev.

Location Description

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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