On the fourth and possibly last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, hundreds of Palestinians made their way through the Qalandiya military checkpoint on their way to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for noon prayers.
Many more did the same at various other checkpoints throughout the occupied West Bank.
Under the watchful eye of Israeli soldiers, women of all ages and Palestinian males under 12 and over 55 were allowed through the terminal in the occupied West Bank without a difficult-to-obtain military permit.
But passing the checkpoint is a feat in itself.
From one of the revolving iron security gates, Wafaa Ramaha, 60, entered a hall inside the military checkpoint, where she found dozens of other Palestinians waiting to pass on their way to Jerusalem.
Ramaha hailed from Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank. Using public transportation, she arrived at the checkpoint after an arduous 75-minute trip.
“Inside the checkpoint, I found heavy overcrowding,” she said. “I hope I will be able to reach Jerusalem before the end of Friday prayers, as the procedures at the checkpoint are really difficult”, she told Al Jazeera, adding that it is “important that we go to pray at Al Aqsa Mosque, as it is for all Muslims and Arabs”.
At the checkpoint, those hoping to pass must cross through four or five different entry points. The noon call to prayer sounded, however, while Ramaha was still waiting for her turn to cross. She could not make it on time.
Others were turned away for “security reasons” or due to the age restrictions. Majida Al-Hajj Hussein, 47, from Nablus, had to leave the checkpoint along with her two children, after Israeli soldiers prevented her 15-year-old son from passing.
Hajj Hussein believed that her son could pass as long as he was still registered on her identity card but Israeli forces at the checkpoint would only allow male children under the age of 12 to pass.
“I came from Nablus, a long way and I was driving. I got here and it took some time until I was able to reach the right entrance,” she said. “This is the first time that my circumstances allowed me to come since the beginning of Ramadan. I reached one of the gates and they asked me to go to the other.”
Hajj Hussein described the procedures inside the checkpoint as akin to a long and complicated maze. “[There are] many corridors, several gates, we are asked to stop, then the security check takes place, and then you do not know if you will pass or not. They [the soldiers] are capricious,” she told Al Jazeera.
It was difficult for her to be turned back. “It is not easy for me to get here and then go back, because my son does not have an identity card, and I do not know how to leave him alone and go. It is difficult for me because I could not reach Al-Aqsa Mosque, while we are on our land. This is beyond my power.”
But others managed to make it. While Israeli police put the numbers of those who entered the compound on Friday at 130,000 – without breaking down how many of those hailed from the West Bank, the Jordan-administered Waqf or Islamic Trust which manages the complex, recorded 250,000 worshippers.
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