Today was the second Friday of Ramadan. We arrived at the Bethlehem terminal at O-6-hundred and already the queue stretched and was disorderly and people were sweating from the exertion. We were surprised at the change from the first Friday of Ramadan – at least twice the number of people.
Let me explain briefly for those who may not be in the know before I get into the story. Ramadan is simply speaking the Muslim holy month recognized in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar (not always on the same date every year) and Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. It is especially important for the Muslims to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, the third holiest site of Islam, during Ramadan. Hence many Palestinians attempt to get across the Bethlehem checkpoint from all over southern West Bank. The Israeli government is generally more lenient during this time and men and women of a certain age may pass the checkpoint without permits – more about that later and in other posts. OK – read more about Ramadan here because I’m not Muslim, nor an expert.
And so the story continues.
There were four of us there and we were on checkpoint monitoring duty. We split up. One in front of the cement barrier before the actual Separation Barrier, one at the metal detectors inside the terminal, one at the ID booths and one counting the number of Palestinians that are actually allowed through the terminal. I was supposed to be at the metal detectors but after getting through the first turnstile I was bounced, grabbed by the police and forced to go back to the Bethlehem side. They don’t much want foreign nationals inside the terminal. So back I went. There is only so much arguing one can do.
Once back beyond the cement barriers I saw that some United Nations officials had arrived. They were supposed to be there over an hour ago. The situation had deteriorated at all sections of the terminal and we needed help. The soldiers were getting hot and angry at the teaming masses of people and that mass was growing. I was afraid that the situation was going to turn violent if some kind of organized chaos wasn’t created. I wasn’t sure if the UN guys were going to help with that. And the people grew hot and the sun rose.
We were in a tight group with two UN officials, four of us, four foreigners and we stood out. We were a target for frustration. While people pushed and shoved and lost their shoes in the mass, we stood and chatted. “Who are the journalists here?!”, exclaimed one man. We feebly pointed to some by the wall…no journalists here. “See, see how they use propaganda!” he shouted referring to a soldier who had lifted a young boy above the pushing people and sat with him at the cement barrier. “While we suffer the media come and make it look like it is the Israeli’s who make things better”. It wasn’t a media stunt and the boy was handed to the soldier by his mother but the scene represented a deeper anger. We nodded in understanding and noticed others were lining up to be vocal.
One pushed in and shouted and spat in Arabic, counting our faults on his fingers. “You organizations come here. For six years you come here and write reports and nothing, nothing has changed! Why are you here? What good do you do?”. And I have to agree with him. We probably don’t do much good in the broader issue. But we are here now and we can help with particular problems now. We can help minimise the abuse and loss of dignity just by being here. The international community is watching. And this means sweet bugger all to his livelihood and children’s future.
Again, we nodded it off. We did understand and he was right, we weren’t fixing it. Probably the most widely reported and documented occupation in history and still it deteriorates. We write reports and take pictures and earn a salary and the arguments that all we do is make the occupation work better rings louder and louder. I will leave that argument for a later post but I renew my duty now, because it is this now in which people need me. As people suffer today, I can help to relieve that in anyway I can. So I interfere when I have to, help where I can, and take pictures when I want to. And in this time I hope that those with greater powers than me will fix it. I refuse to get frustrated like some of the UN personnel who complain that these people don’t appreciate them. If you think people don’t appreciate you, maybe you should work a little harder, arrive on time, and don’t leave before it’s over.
Prayer time is 11:45 and inside the terminal over 300 men were still waiting in the queue and outside the barrier. Those who did not even get past the first barrier kneel in prayer in the hot sun and far from their holy site. When you forcibly prevent people from practicing their religion you ask for trouble.
The third Friday of Ramadan is coming closer.
(Check out some more photos from checkpoints here)
