Qalandia village’s name was taken from a Kurdish tribe that inhabited the village. It is home to 22 fresh water wells and an ancient Roman-era olive press. Until the 20th century the small village was relatively prosperous. Due to its strategic location on the road between Ramallah and Jerusalem, the first airport in Palestine, the Qalandia Airport, was opened in 1920. Since the 1948 Nakba, the village has been in the shadows of the Qalandia refugee camp establishment by UNRWA in 1949. After 1967, many of Qalandia's residents left their village due to the hardships and squalid conditions caused by the Israeli occupation .5
According to the Qalandia local council, Qalandia village has no governmental institutions, but a few local institutions and associations provide services to various sectors of society. These include the Qalandiya Village Council, founded in 1994 with the goal of solving issues in the village and providing various services to its population, and Qalandiya Women Society, founded in 2008 with the goal of providing different services to the village.6
The social life of Qalandia village has been drastically affected by the construction of the Annexation Wall which isolates 3 houses from the village. Separated from their village by the Wall and the military checkpoint, the social ties between the two parts of the village depend now on permits given by the occupation forces. While Qalandia residents holding Jerusalem IDs can visit their relatives on the isolated part of the village, holders of West Bank IDs are deprived of this right. In general, marriage relations between the different ID holders of the village residents have become severely challenged due to this separation.7
Land confiscation
Most of Qalandia's lands have been expropriated by the Israeli occupation authorities for the construction of the Atarot industrial zone, the Qalandia checkpoint, the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv bypass road and the Annexation Wall. According to ARIJ, the occupation authorities have confiscated 574 dunums of land from Qalandia (17.5% of its total area) to establish the Atarot industrial zone to the southeast of the village which was built in 1970. An additional 639 dunums (19.5%) were confiscated to establish an Israeli military base (Qalandia Airport Military Camp) to the northeast of the village. Additional land has been confiscated for the construction of bypass roads 45 and 443.8
Annexation Wall
The Annexation Wall has not only eaten up Qalandia's land, but also extends 4km into Qalandia’s lands and covers part of the surrounding territories on both sides of bypass road 443; it isolates 1,940 dunums of the village, 59.3% of the total area. The isolated lands include open and agricultural areas.9
Additionally, it has made it difficult for the nearly 70% of Qalandia's residents who hold Jerusalem residency to access the city. The Wall has forced an increasing number of Qalandia's population to leave as the village has become more isolated and suffocated. The main road of the village is classified as Area C territory according to the Oslo accords. Therefore, residents who wish to build or expand must receive permits from the Israeli occupation which are often not given. This forces residents to meet their needs by building without permits.
1 Zeddani, L. (2012) Qalandia: the Game of Dividing Land and Identity (Arabic). AlAkhbar Newspaper online.
2 ARCJ (2012). Qalandia village profile (Arabic), Applied Research Centre Jerusalem.
3 ARCJ (2012). Qalandia village profile (Arabic), Applied Research Centre Jerusalem.
4 The Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (2012), Qalandiya Village Profile, pg 17.
5 Awadallah, M. (2009) Qalandia between past and present (Arabic). Palestine Rememberd.
6 ARIJ (2012), Qalandiya Village Profile.
7 Al-Akhbar (2013) The game of dividing land and identity.
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