Text “Q” to 37117 on a Jawwal mobile phone and you can get a brief update on the traffic conditions at the Qalandia checkpoint.

This sounds helpful enough, as Qalandia remains the busiest checkpoint in the West Bank, serving tens of thousands of Palestinians who must pass through it daily. The checkpoint was created in 2001, staffed 24/7 by the Israeli military starting in late 2002, and was redefined as a terminal in 2005.

As far as the military is concerned, the facility is a border crossing, which is obviously incongruous with the fact that Israel has yet to declare where any of its borders lie. Qalandia connects all of the central and northern West Bank — including cities like Ramallah and Nablus — to Jerusalem and other points in Israel. It does not, however, lie on any border. Qalandia sits on the Palestinian side of the Green Line, and separates Palestinians in the southern parts of the West Bank, in cities such as Bethlehem, Jericho, and Hebron, from areas farther north.