Nabi Elias
10.004 women students and one man were waiting to receive Brenda happily and with hugs. A while later another man and woman student joined the class. When Brenda started the lesson I left. It was very cold in the classroom. Some children were playing with a ball in the street. A small girl waved to me several times and I joined them and helped them for an hour until Brenda had finished the lesson. Small cute children, two sisters of 7 and 11 and another of 11 afterwards joined us with a small brother. The children and I all enjoyed ourselves. The problem is the lack of a common language and one has to make do with hands and signs.
We went home. So near and but so far.
A-Nabi Elias
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A-Nabi Elias this is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, east of Qalqilia on Road 55, north-east of Alfei Menashe colony and west of Karnei Shomron colony and the Palestinian city of Nablus. As of 2016, the village was populated by 1,458 inhabitants.
Near the village is a maqam (holy site memorializing a sanctified person) - the prophet Elisha. Until 2021 Road 55 crossed the village. Then a bypass road was paved through olive groves that were sequestered from the villagers. Consequently, the farmers were left with small olive groves that they could not access nor cultivate. Inhabitants protested against the road for weeks, supported by peace activists, but nothing helped and the road is now a given fact.
The village's main street had been a shopping center for all residents, including colonists. We even saw a Kashrut (kosher food) inspector in a butcher shop close to the falafel stand… The bypass road, according to tradesmen, has impacted their businesses and clients, while others claim that there are customers now for parking has become easier.
Alfei Menashe and Tzofim colonies nibble at the village lands from the north and south and get closer to it all the time. Colonists of Alfei Menashe have outdone themselves, sending their surplus sewage from the oxygenation pools toward a-Nabi Elias land, even reaching the houses.
The villagers are known as seekers of peace. For years there was no hostility towards Israelis. On the contrary, we were always welcomed warmly and stopped there to enjoy their delicious, inexpensive falafel.
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