Israel opens a new crossing from Jerusalem to A-Ram and Qalandiya in order to ease the heavy congestion, both by cars and pedestrians, at the Qalandiya West Bank checkpoint.
The new crossing, located at Dahiat el-Barid, will be open daily from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. from Jerusalem to Qalandiya only. The army says it will consider increasing hours in the future.
The difficult conditions at the checkpoints has long been an issue criticized in mainstream Israeli media, but far-right Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel gave the issue new life on April 15 when he criticized Palestinian suffering at the crossings as “shameful and a disgrace to the State of Israel and to the security establishment.”
Palestinian women try to cross through the Qalandiya checkpoint on their way for Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque, June 26, 2015. (Flash90)
A few days after Ariel’s statement, Channel 2 aired a feature story about Palestinian hardship at the Qalandiya checkpoint, which sees more traffic than any other crossing due to its location between Ramallah and Jerusalem.
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