On the first Friday of Ramadan, mass prayer to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem from the West Bank went smoothly - at least for men over the age of 50, and women over the age of 45. Whilst a large number of young Palestinians were prevented from entering the Old City. ST McNeil reporting and photographing.
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Israel had eased restrictions for the religious holiday, according to Haaretz. As the Quartet push the Palestinian Authority and Israel’s government towards peace talks, the move could be seen as an attempt at ground-floor diplomacy.
At the Qalandiya checkpoint, the crowd was split into male and female lines entering at separate entrances. Red Crescent Ambulances provided scant shade for squatting adults and children - all in various states of hunger and thirst, some experiencing caffeine and nicotine withdrawal. Today is the third day of Ramadan, the global Muslim religious holiday, where all of the able and faithful fast and abstain.
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A few men were turned down at the gates - Israel forces regulated by age and documentation who sees the second holiest site in Islam. Children with parents could enter, but for anyone else under 35 the gates were closed. Past the identity card check, worshippers moved around Israeli Army units in all-black or all-brown uniforms, all heavily armed: bullet proof vests, night-sticks, automatic rifles, berets and sunglasses.
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Security cameras watched the men and women move towards the holding area, where the crowds were divided again into lines of four, then filtered down narrow tunnels of metal bars like cages. A metal turnstile opened once about every 15 minutes, creating a rush of people to the next turnstile, a metal detector and x-ray machine. Some pairs of men crammed into the space meant for one.
It took a little over an hour to cross the checkpoint. Men and women looked happy on the other side, lining up for service taxis and buses for Eastern Jerusalem. Outside the city, crowds created great devout rivers, forging through the cobblestone alleys towards Al-Aqsa. Israeli security manned big intersections and the perimeter mosque fences. Stopping tourists, they watched behind their guns as hundreds of kufeyah and head-scarves passed.
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