As we did last week, and on many Ramadan Fridays in previous years, we had to park far from the checkpoint.  Unlike us, worshippers heading to Rachel’s Tomb raced through the Border Police checkpoint.  We were surprised to see that women crossed through the metal gate in the wall and immediately boarded a bus parked right at the exit.  We crossed through the exit that during most of the year serves those returning to Bethlehem.  No one took notice of us this week as well.  There were many more people heading to prayers this time.  Because of their numbers the crossing where we stood, normally intended only for men, opened to women al well.  As we’d reported previously, there are no longer paper permits – everything is on a cellphone app.  Only women showed ID cards.  The crossing went very quickly – one group after another, “to avoid crowding.”

Women don’t need a permit to cross – in occupation theory, at least.  We encountered three young women who were refused entry.  Yehudit determined they were two sisters and a friend of theirs.  One of the sisters suddenly discovered she was on the Shabak’s entry blacklist, while her sister was “clean.”  The young women were very upset, extremely disappointed.  We tried to help but found out that the computerization made impossible any attempt to intervene in real time.

We decided there was no point hanging around for long, particularly since there was no possibility of helping or affecting any decisions, and decided to leave.  We recalled years when we were able actually to cross to the Palestinian side, to sit sisterly with the Palestinian policewomen and really assist people who had been refused entry to attend worship.

When we left we had to go through the crossing Palestinians use on a daily basis.  We discovered there’s a bathroom there – for men and women.  It was a filthy squat toilet!  Palestinians display their IDs, the soldier checks again on the computer, delaying further the exit.  Everyone’s in a rush and short-tempered.  They asked us to allow them to precede us; we agreed, of course.  We showed only our MachsomWatch identification.  One person who had been denied entry asked us for help.  We tried to give him Sylvia’s number but he already had it and hadn’t been able to remove the blacklisting.

We exited the checkpoint – not through the usual exit but on the east side which is usually closed.  Large Ministry of Tourism posters on the walls – visit the Dead Sea, the City of David, Tel Aviv, Haifa – all in Israel.  Are they kidding?  Palestinians might have gladly visited some of those places.  There’s only one small problem:  they need a permit.

Crowds of people outside heading toward the buses.  A policeman who knew me called us over and guided us through the crowds.  The buses fill rapidly.  We tried to find out how people pay for the trip and received various answers.  A driver we asked said the trip is free, paid for by the Transport Ministry.  People we asked said they pay on the bus.  We’ll try to find out what the arrangement is.

Bethlehem checkpoint, afternoon (16:00 – 17:30)

I returned to the checkpoint with two friends from Beit Sahur.  Buses returning the worshippers arrive one after the other in a constant flow.  The gate in the wall is still open; some of the buses stop there and worshippers can go through straight to the parking lot where buses and taxis await to take them home.  It takes a long time to get off the buses – women, children, the elderly, babies, all disembark slowly.  The mass of people stretched a long distance.  Our friends got out and walked the rest of the way while I and other cars were stuck motionless among the buses.  There’s no point becoming upset in such situations, so I also “experienced” Ramadan.  A true festival for the Palestinian people, in all its aspects.  A unique atmosphere – the effort, the humiliation involved in the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount must be truly worthwhile.