za3tar

Huwara Checkpoint … a few hundred meters from the soldiers.

Coming back from visiting relatives, we were stuck with many others on Huwara (حوارة) checkpoint, which is set up by Israeli soldiers on the main road. We were stuck on that checkpoint for more than 75 minutes, even though it was not highly crowded (the Israeli soldiers were moving veeerrryyyy sloooowly).

The people crossing that checkpoint were of all ages and walks of life. Entire families dressed up and moving to visit families and loved ones for the Eid. One could not help but notice the different contradictory, yet inspiring, pictures seen there. Perhaps the most inspiring one i saw was that of a young little girl (13 ~ 14 yrs) all dressed up in a nice black and white dress/skirt and carrying a bouquet of red flowers.

This angelic young girl was walking on the rubble across the checkpoint, surrounded by cement blocks and security fences. She looked completely out of scene. Somehow, soldiers, machine guns, cement blocks, and security fences didn’t go well with her nice dress, red flowers, and innocent youth.

….. who knows …. maybe this contradictory scene would yield a short story (or at least a post) !