Perspective: Kufr ‘Aqab’s Chaos Creates Survivors

The Israeli occupation, with all its draconian powers and instruments, has created a monster that no one seems to know what to do with and how to manage.

This monster is the northern Jerusalem neighborhood called Kufr ‘Aqab. It is legally within the Israeli-defined Jerusalem municipal boundaries but physically closer to Ramallah and al-Bira.

Kufr ‘Aqab was once a small outlying neighborhood; today, it is one of the most densely populated Palestinian areas in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem). It sits on the Ramallah side of the eight-meter-high Separation Wall and the notorious Qalandiya Israeli checkpoint, but Palestinian Authority (PA) civilian and security forces are forbidden to operate there. Israeli municipal services were suspended years ago, but Israeli troops making an arrest or carrying out an executive order are frequently in evidence.

Massive high-rise buildings have popped up in Kufr ‘Aqab without any proper regulation, and yet Israel—which has been demolishing unlicensed Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem at a record rate—seems uninterested in tearing down any buildings that sit beyond an arbitrarily drawn line. The high cement wall and hermetically sealed sprawling Qalandiya checkpoint has taken on the appearance of an international border, especially for pedestrians walking across the huge facility to pass it.

Cars and trucks with yellow Israeli license plates are allowed to drive through the checkpoint as long as all passengers carry an Israeli permanent-resident ID, are Palestinian citizens of Israel, or have a foreign passport with a valid Jordanian visa to allow them to return to Jordan. Those who carry PA IDs and are married to those with Israeli permanent (Jerusalem) IDs must disembark, leave their families, pass through on foot, and return to the family car once it has passed Qalandiya. Of course, only if the car has a yellow license plate, since cars with green PA plates from the West Bank are simply not allowed to enter Israel at all, barring a few very rare exceptions such as VIPs or medical personnel. (And these are the rules on the books today, but the military commander can change them in a moment upon a whim.)

Driving by car through the Qalandiya checkpoint from the north to enter Jerusalem means a long wait as Israeli security forces check every single car, motorcycle, or truck. Unlike at other crossings used also by Jewish Israelis that move more quickly, nearly all travelers using this checkpoint are Palestinians (Israeli Jews are not allowed to use it).

Some, unwilling to wait often one or two hours just to cross into Beit Hanina on the way to the Old City, might opt to try another checkpoint. The once-popular DCO checkpoint (shorthand for the Israeli District Coordinating Office nearby) near al-Bira (a city near Ramallah in the West Bank) has been closed for some time, leaving as the only other alternative the Hizma checkpoint. This route is popular, because it is used by Jewish settlers coming from Ramallah-area settlements and Ma’ale Adumim. The fact that settlers use this checkpoint means that most cars with Israeli plates are allowed to pass without being stopped and checked.

The problem with the Hizma checkpoint near the settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev is that it requires a circuitous route out of Ramallah. After maneuvering past backed-up Qalandiya traffic, one must drive a distance before getting to an area where cars from settlements, Palestinian towns, and Jerusalem merge. Often, the Israeli army arbitrarily stops traffic coming from the Ramallah area for as long as it takes to allow traffic from the Israeli settlements to thin out, giving priority to settlers to make it to Jerusalem faster.

Palestinians with Israeli permanent-resident IDs who live in Kufr ‘Aqab and any other location north of the Qalandiya checkpoint can also take a (green-plated) bus, run by a Palestinian company on behalf of the city. While these are prioritized over Palestinian cars, they must stop at the Qalandiya checkpoint, have all passengers disembark, present their IDs and permits, and pass through metal detectors with their belongings, then board another Israeli yellow-plated bus (for the same fare, which is free for disabled persons and senior citizens). Anyone trying to enter Jerusalem with any kind of product or produce typically gets additional scrutiny, as most Palestinian products are highly restricted and regulated by Israeli authorities.

While getting into Jerusalem can take some time due to the slow process of inspection at the Qalandiya checkpoint and arbitrary stoppage of traffic for settler ease of movement, the return to Kufr ‘Aqab is a different kind of adventure. The return journey is hindered by numerous delays due to the lack of real traffic enforcement in the area: locals double- or triple-park, clogging the passageways, or in many cases drive against traffic in order to try to get past the waiting cars into the Ramallah area. The area between the Qalandiya checkpoint and Kufr ‘Aqab is barely three kilometers, but it could take half an hour to traverse it—or more.

Another major cause of delays for traffic moving both ways is the entrance to Qalandiya refugee camp, which is technically under Palestinian civilian control (Area B under the Oslo Accords) but is policed (or not) by Israeli security forces due to its proximity to the massive Qalandiya checkpoint.

At times, volunteers from the camp try to help manage the traffic—but even with their presence, the chaotic situation makes the drive in and out of Kufr ‘Aqab an adventure.

To minimize delays, some Palestinian drivers coming from Jerusalem choose to drive through the Givat Ze’ev settlement and use the long alternative route through Bir Nabala to arrive in Kufr ‘Aqab from the other side of Ramallah. This is a 20-kilometer detour to reach a location only 3 kilometers away.

While uniformed Palestinian police are not usually allowed by Israeli law into Kufr ‘Aqab—Israel still considers it Jerusalem—at times, unarmed Palestinian police are allowed in to manage specific incidents. Traffic accidents between cars registered within the PA areas and vehicles registered in Israel may be mediated by unarmed Palestinian police if they coordinate with the Israeli military authorities. Some Palestinian police are present in the area in civilian clothes, but they are unarmed and not allowed to enforce any laws.

Although movement in and out of Kufr ‘Aqab toward downtown Jerusalem is a day-to-day aggravation for residents, there are other problems caused by its bizarre geography and politics. The absence of civilian police belonging to Palestinians (against their own will) or Israelis (by their own choice) has turned Kufr ‘Aqab into a center for drugs and crime. Residents of Kufr ‘Aqab often hear shooting at night: either between Palestinian groups or when Israeli security forces enter to make an arrest. Weapons flow freely in Kufr ‘Aqab, making it a staging ground for gangs and contract violence. Have a problem with someone who owes you money? For a price, a gang member can hurt them or threaten them to get you what you want. Families that want to have a public celebration can pay a gang NIS 5,000 (about $1,600) to shoot celebratory rounds in the air during a wedding or high school graduation.

The presence of armed gangs without countervailing forces has caused Kufr ‘Aqab residents to turn to traditional tribal customs. Instead of waiting for the reluctant Israeli police to act, families turn to the heads of major families (hamulas) and seek their intervention and decision-making to solve disputes—usually at a hefty financial cost. Some families have created special family funds; the money is then made available to its members for emergencies or to resolve a rivalry that requires payment or the purchase of weapons.

Most galling, the people of Kufr ‘Aqab pay all (hefty) required Israeli taxes but lack the most basic public services, because any time an employee of the Jerusalem Municipality must enter the neighborhood, it is considered a “security risk” that requires protection, meaning additional bureaucracy and foot-dragging.1 Garbage collection has been contracted to a private company that picks up trash in dumpsters often only two or three times a week—but usually only after piles of garbage have become a major public hazard.

Water for Kufr ‘Aqab comes from Mekorot, the Israeli water company, but via the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, which has served this part of the West Bank since 1967; ironically, most of the water that Mekorot distributes comes from the West Bank aquifer. However, the system is notoriously inefficient and inadequate, resulting in major water shortages for the neighborhood. Palestinian families install large containers on their roofs to store water because it frequently only flows every couple of days, especially in drought periods. But under Israeli law, Kufr ‘Aqab should be treated no differently than Jewish neighborhoods in the city, which have their water needs prioritized and have water flowing 24 hours a day.

Lawyers took this argument to court in 2024 during a horrendous drought. What was the government’s suggested response? To try to force the PA (which under Israeli law is banned from operating within the municipal boundaries) to use its allotted water—not nearly the same amount per capita as allotted to Israelis—to ensure that Kufr ‘Aqab has 24-hour access, while other Palestinians have no such luxury.2

Electricity is generally available in Kufr ‘Aqab, again purchased from the Palestinian supplier, which obtains most of its energy from Israel.

Basic medical services, guaranteed to Israeli permanent-resident ID holders and Israeli citizens, are partially available in Kufr ‘Aqab through Israeli public providers staffed by Palestinians. There are, however, no hospitals. Any referrals for care beyond the most basic require the agonizing trips past the dreaded Qalandiya checkpoint3—or residents can pay out of pocket at Ramallah-area Palestinian hospitals and specialized medical services, where Israeli insurance cannot be used. Nor will Israeli ambulances enter to transport the patients, so residents have to arrange local or family transport out of the neighborhood and through the checkpoint where the ambulance waits at the entrance. The patient then has to be moved from one vehicle to the next in an unstable, risky, back-to-back transfer process that can endanger their lives.

The Israeli human rights organization ACRI filed an appeal to the Jerusalem Envelope Border Police demanding that seriously ill patients be allowed to pass through a less congested checkpoint. On December 11, 2025, Israel responded that permanent residents and citizens will now be allowed to submit such requests by email and can expect a reply “within 21 working days.”4 This will not likely be of much relief to any but those who are needing the most routine, noncritical care.

Some other public services such as those provided at the Ministry of Interior, post office, and national insurance offices are available at the Qalandiya checkpoint. These offices are not always open on any predictable schedule and largely operate via previously assigned online appointments.

For many Palestinian Jerusalemites, living in crowded Kufr ‘Aqab is not their first choice but an unavoidable necessity. Many live there to maintain a valid residency within the Jerusalem Municipality as required to hold their legal status (see Precarious Status), while working, studying, and enjoying Ramallah’s entertainment, restaurants, and Palestinian community and social life. It is the only place where couples with mixed IDs (one PA ID-carrying spouse, the other Israeli permanent resident) can live together easily and legally. Kufr ‘Aqab residents have to accept delays and dangers in order to be able to enjoy the ability to travel and work both in Jerusalem (in areas that Israel considers itself sovereign over) and outside the Separation Wall, in PA-administered areas of the rest of the West Bank. Chaos and risks are managed and accepted rather than rejected out of hand.