Qalandiya

 Third Friday in the month of the Ramadan

At Qalandiya, on the third Friday in the month of the Ramadan, just another regular day it seems. But actually, there never is just another regular day at Qalandiya. It may seem so, but no. How can you call it a normal life, when more than 50% of the Palestinian population is prevented from fulfilling the mitzvah of praying in the El-Aqsa Mosque? And what kind of a regular life is it, when the barrel of a gun greets you at the checkpoint and masked faces look at you from the firing posts; when a disabled elderly couple breathing heavily and supporting each other is ordered to go separate lanes, because according to the rules of the third Friday in the month of the Ramadan men pass through one lane and women through another; when a father carrying his little daughter is disgracefully sent back since his age is not right?

And what about the children who turned 14 not long ago and who have to turn back hearing the shouts of a soldier: "Fourteen years and a day –you're not allowed to pass!" ?

And above all, the war in Gaza where relatives and friends are being killed strips the words "a regular day, it seems" of any meaning - an ominous dark cloud makes it hard to breathe.