Bethlehem CP - third Friday of Ramadan

Share:
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email
Tags: 
Observers: 
Natanya Ginsburg (English) and Claire Oren (reporting)
Apr-7-2023
|
Morning

Te Bethlehem checkpoint, the Palestinian side and the Israeli side

9:15-10:45

We have never seen such a quiet and empty checkpoint in Ramadan. The soldiers were also surprised and said that they had expected a high number of people asking to pray. Everyone we asked emphasized that the number of permits was not reduced and no age restrictions were added. People just voted with their feet. They were probably afraid to come because of the tension, the events, the even easier finger on the trigger thanks to the police commissioner?

A lot of women came. Children - less than the fingers of both hands... no festive feature, no smiles, no holiday clothes.

On the Israeli side, buses lined up as usual, but they filled up slowly without creating a queue and crowding. In most places, at any given moment, there were more police than Palestinians.

The police didn't want to let us stand where we were on the Israeli side because it was a "sterileinfo-icon" area. They told us to go to the Palestinian side, through the checkpoint and return through the large iron gate which was open. We passed through the checkpoint and stood on the Palestinian side. Same situation - more police than Palestinians. Here and there someone was refused entrance to Israel and was returned to Bethlehem.

Two girls in uniform, armed with a professional camerainfo-icon, were stationed not far from us. It turned out that they work for the Israeli propaganda. It is interesting how the checkpoint, the roadblocks, the search cells, the drawn weapons and the rest of the setting can be photographed in such a way as to testify to the enlightenment of the occupation... We should probably increase the use of "beautification" techniques.

There was not much to do and we decided to return to the Israeli side. We tried to go through the big gate, as the officer on the Israeli side had told us, but the two soldiers standing there did not allow us to go through there. They took our identity cards, asked questions, spoke on the phone with an unknown commander and sent us through the checkpoint. On the Israeli side, as before, quiet and a slow trickle of Palestinians. The pictures indicate the scarcity of the following numbers.