(28 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Qalandiya checkpoint, West Bank – 28 March 2025
1. Wide of Qalandiya checkpoint
2. Volunteers help an elderly man walk
3. Wide of worshippers gathered at Qalandiya checkpoint as they head towards Jerusalem on the last Friday of Ramadan
4. Man walking and Israeli security guards in the background
5. Israeli security guards
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jihad Bisharat, Tamun resident:
"We came from Tamoun (Northern West Bank) at dawn prayer and we were happy because we were coming to pray in Jerusalem because this is the last Friday of Ramadan. Despite having a permit and after they (Israeli security) examined the magnetic card, I was surprised when they asked me to turn around and return from where I came."
7. Worshippers walking behind bars
8. Fatima Saeed holding her American passport and going back from the checkpoint
9. Close up of Fatima Saeed American passport
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima Saeed, Deir Dibwan resident:
"They (the Israeli security) refused to let me cross and asked me to go out. I told them I had an American passport, they asked me to go back."
11. Israeli security guard
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fateh Toufic, Tulkarem resident:
"We were waiting for the bus since 3:45 in the morning trying to come for the prayer and when we entered, the soldiers at the checkpoint… they sent us back. After several attempts to understand what was happening through the coordinator application, I did not receive a response. I feel upset because I left my home at 3:45 and now I am not allowed to cross and I have to stay here and wait for the bus to come back after the prayer ends and the bus leave Al-Aqsa mosque and this will be around 2pm. What should I do now and what is the solution?"
13. People walking next to Israeli security guards
14. Wide of Qalandiya checkpoint
STORYLINE:
Thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank crossed the Qalandiya checkpoint, the main crossing that lies between Jerusalem and Ramallah, as they headed towards Jerusalem on the last Friday of Ramadan prayers.
Some Palestinians at the checkpoint expressed their frustration after they were refused entry into Jerusalem ahead of prayers.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, the Israeli government has blocked Palestinians in the West Bank from visiting Israel.
The Israeli authority imposed restrictions on Palestinians heading to Jerusalem and permitted only men over 55 and women over 50, to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque this Ramadan.
Fatima Saeed from Deir Dibwan town near Ramallah was surprised to be not allowed to cross to Jerusalem despite holding an American passport.
"They (the Israeli security) refused to let me cross and asked me to go out. I told them I had an American passport, they asked me to go back," Saeed said.
Fateh Toufic, who rented a bus with other passengers from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem to go to Jerusalem, was told to turn back.
Some 75,000 Muslim worshippers gathered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, according to the Islamic Trust, which oversees the site.
The Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site in Islam.
AP Video shot by Imad Isseid
Production by Jalal Bwaitel
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