Due to the severe weather, several shifts were cancelled. The general impression is that this Ramadan is particularly harsh in terms of obtaining permits, difficult, poverty-stricken and lacking in spirit. There are almost no West Bank participants. Entry to prayer at the Bethlehem checkpoint is limited (until 11) and so is the return, which requires a signature by 17:00. The prayer at Al-Aqsa is only half an hour long. At Nablus Gate, the stalls were placed on the steps of the square, perhaps to prevent mass gatherings. There’s a huge number of security forces and the mood of passers-by is serious and gloomy.

10:45 Bethlehem checkpoint. Biting cold and raining. I parked in a close-by lot after passing one Border Police checkpoint. The lot also serves ultra-Orthodox and ordinary religious people who don’t travel to Rachel’s Tomb, because a new access has been paved to the place. I didn’t wear a badge, because I understood that they would block my way.

The normal crossing gate is locked, and the entrance to Jerusalem has been diverted to inspection sheds. The flow of people crossing was very thin at this hour, and according to the bus drivers, 3,500 people have passed through since morning (in good years, about 100,000 would have passed through). From a conversation with a Bethlehem resident later in the day, I understood that they gave a certain number of permits to adult Palestinians, but only for a maximum of 2 Fridays, and the permits came at the last minute. At 11 o’clock the crossing closed for prayer.

One of the border guards was interested in our organization and said that he did not understand how we were helping the Palestinians who were murdering Jews.

12:00 Nablus Gate

Groups of security personnel, two fortified booths dominate the gate area, and inside them, behind armored glass, sit male and female soldiers and watch the goings on with disinterest. There is no sense of violence in the square, but something could happen in an instant. The buses waiting for worshipers are parked in a long line according to the areas: North Jerusalem, Rachel’s Crossing. The stalls are placed on the steps above the square, and most of them are covered with tarpaulins at this time.

The prayer started at 12 and at 12:30 the first people are already leaving the gate, mostly older men, and a few older women sighing with the effort of climbing laden with baskets of shopping for iftar. Only a few children. No holiday clothes – dark coats dominate. An older man stops next to me and shows me a newspaper cover with a photo of a Gazan family’s children who were buried under the rubble of the recent bombings in Gaza. He says: “Netanyahu is bad for all of us.”

Now the vendors on the street across the road are up, and advertising goods at incredibly low prices. As in last year, challah and Jerusalem bagels are the hits, as are nut and dried fruit loaves, rings of sweet pastries and cheap plastic toys. The street leads in the direction of the buses to Rachel’s Crossing. There’s still time to stick around, but many are already heading back. They say that many shops are closed in the Old City and that there’s no levity. It’s not a real holiday.