Bethlehem (300)

The fourth Friday of Ramadan

9:00 to 10:45

Far fewer people came today to pass for prayers in Jerusalem. Perhaps one of the reasons is that the peak of Ramadan had passed, with the prayers Lilt Al Kader, the day the Koran was given to Mohammed. Presumably, many permits were canceled following the attack and the murder at the Damascus Gate.

Till 10:00 the stream of Palestinians was so low that they didn’t have to close the outer court in order to control the boarding of the buses. All the same, from 10:00 many people began to arrive and they again closed the court’s gate until the buses were full and reopened again to fill the new line of buses. In the outer courtyard, they placed 4 chemical toilets (like in a field trip). I did not notice them in previous weeks, but they may have been there all along.

A 10-year-old boy without a permit was allowed to pass on account of his poor health condition requiring a hospital consultation. His father was too young to pass without a permit (47) and was not allowed to pass. The boy was taken by a family acquaintance who had a permit.