"This checkpoint has turned my life upside down. It has made me poor and insane. I feel trapped, all I have is the air that I breathe," says Jassem Kadadha, who works as a taxi driver here.
While Israeli-Palestinian contacts are stumbling over the thorny issue of prisoners, Jassem and many Palestinians whose lives have not improved since the roadmap for peace was published say efforts should focus on dismantling checkpoints.
"Nobody really cares about the Jerusalem issue and the prisoners will come later. Everybody's priority is to reopen the roads," said Munther Mohammad, who coordinates taxi services at one end of the Surda checkpoint.
The checkpoint consists of an L-shaped and uphill road which stretches several hundred metres (yards) from the northern entrance of Ramallah to the village of Surda and is marked at both ends by blocks of concrete barring access to cars.
It is generally guarded by a handful of soldiers and one jeep posted half way up the slope and separates the Palestinian business capital from 40 villages and 100,000 residents whose lives gravitate around the city.
The checkpoint has also paralysed the internationally-renouned Bir Zeit University, north of Ramallah, where thousands of students have been unable to attend their classes.
The United States has reportedly asked Israel to remove checkpoints deemed not vital to its security, but the army insists Surda and other "internal checkpoints" are essential in preventing attacks from militant groups.
"Checkpoints are crucial in preventing terror groups from coordinating their actions," a senior military source explained.
"To carry out the latest suicide attacks, the bombers had to make a very long circuit. Without the checkpoints, bombings would be easier and more frequent."
But the Palestinians argue the checkpoint has no justification and only encourages the people to support military actions by militant groups or carry them out themselves.
"This checkpoint has nothing to do with Israel's security, if I want to make an attack, I will not come through this checkpoint. What's more, this is not the road to Tel Aviv, it links Ramallah to neighbouring Palestinian villages," Munther explained.
"I have seeen three people die on this short strip of road because they were prevented from reaching hospital," he added, as a chair-bound elderly woman was wheeled past the security check by medical staff.
"Is it surprising that people blow themselves up in Israeli supermarkets?"
Puffing up the hill with hundreds of others, the chief editor of the Palestinian daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida says he nicknamed the strip of road he uses every day to go to work "Incitement Road".
"Ironically, when the Israelis ask us to fight incitement in textbooks and the media, they are creating with this road a generation of angry Palestinians and encouraging military escalation," Hafez Barghuti says.
At the northern end of the checkpoint, taxi drivers shout out their destinations: "Tulkarem! Jenin! Salfit!". The whole northern half of the West Bank bottle-necks into Surda, set up shortly after the outbreak of the uprising 33 months ago.
"This checkpoint has no reason to exist other than to inflame the situation," charges Munther.
"If you let the people mix they can live happily together. My boss in Tel Aviv, where I used to work in the construction sector, keeps sending me money although I haven't seen him in nearly three years," he says.
Tamer Sayij, 22, wipes the sweat off his forehead after carrying a heavy television set he bought in Ramallah across the checkpoint.
"Look at this box, it could have 20 kilos of explosives in it, nobody checked it when I walked through," he laughs.
"The soldiers are generally more interested in stopping the pretty girls. There is no security reason for this daily humiliation. It's pure vexation," he says.
