Final Friday Walking

I love walking through Ramallah on a Friday. The streets are almost empty as people are praying or just enjoying their day of rest. The Mosques ring out and fill the city with their calls to prayer and sermons. Instead of swerving left and right to avoid colliding with people and cars, I can walk freely with little to inhibit my movements.

I see foreigners everywhere on Fridays as we take advantage of the absence of crowds to do what we need. It seems Ramallah is full of internationals on days like these.

On this Friday, I was more keenly aware of my surrounding as this would be my last living in Ramallah. As the midday Friday prayers filled the air I passed through al-Manara (almost empty of the usual young men who congregate there) and into Rukub Street (namesake of the famous Rukub ice-creamery), down the uneven pavement and stairways, through the wafts of shwarma and falafel, past the dumpsters so often filled with cats, and into the outskirts of Ramallah. I walked slowly, enjoying the weather and my surroundings that had become so familiar after passing through them daily for the last three months: that UN four-wheel drive vehicle was parked outside that same house; the six Palestinian soldiers stood in their usual position lolling about with nothing to do at the official end of the city of Ramallah; the electricity cables at the end of my street sounded like crickets as the electricity passed uneasily crackling through the wires; and my building was filled with children waiting for a cooking or music or ballet class, running round and laughing and annoying people.

It was one of those moments where I loved Ramallah.

It always strikes me as an irony that to the Israelis, Ramallah is a place of danger and extremists and yet it’s really one of the most liberal cities in Palestine. I’ve heard people call Tel Aviv ‘The Bubble’, and that description could be applied to Ramallah. Living here you can almost forget about the occupation with all the fashion stores, cafes and bars. Always I’m told by Palestinians: if you want to have an idea of the situation in Palestine, you need to move beyond Ramallah. And this has certainly been my experience. While it could never be completely free from the occupation (just recently eleven people were taken abducted by the Israeli army in Ramallah and taken to an Israeli prison), it’s about as close as can be.

I’m going to miss this city and its people, just as I’ll miss this land that is trying to be a country.