I will tell you a short story about a girl who wanted to go to Jerusalem. She lives in a small village near Ramalla, she is 15 years old, nothing special an ordinary girl. One Sunday she decided to go to Jerusalem, she took a shower early in the morning, she put on her nice blue dress and she was ready to leave. The dress was a gift from her grandfather, maybe the dress wasn’t that nice but the memory of her grandfather was more important.
She took the bus and she noticed that she was the youngest one in it. She didn’t care, she actually felt special for that matter. She wasn’t afraid, she taught herself not to be afraid. The bus took them to the security control, in order to be checked and continue the road to her Jerusalem. The place felt more crowded than the last time she was there and for a moment she didn’t know which way to go. ‘How is it possible’, she whispered,’ I have done this too many times’. In an instance she had found her spot in the crowd. She was very careful because she didn’t want to ruin her nice dress.
No one seemed to move, or you couldn’t understand the movement because of the yelling and shouting. “Why is it the same every single time?” she whispered again. For a glimpse she closed her eyes and imagined to be in charge of this place. She had a plan of creating 3 lines, one for women and children, one for the grandparents and one for the men. On her face appeared a smile of satisfaction. Yes an ordinary girl from a village could make a difference, could remove the burden out of the people even though she knew that the men and women with uniforms from the other side will remain.
‘Noooo’, she screamed in the middle of her thoughts, someone has pushed her and she fell on the ground. ‘My dress’. She was about to burst into tears but she didn’t. She stood up and yelled to everyone ‘You let them control you’ and she left. She knows that she has to face the brutality of the people with uniforms and she has managed to do so. In her mind she kept the look of a man from the other side looking at them with twisted joy and satisfaction. ‘No’ she said to herself I will not make them a favor.
She didn’t go to Jerusalem that day. To be honest she hasn’t been to Jerusalem for almost 10 years.
She admitted to me that she has only one fear. The uniforms may remain, unfortunately alongside with that the Palestinian society will remain standstill.
P.S: If you find any similarity with reality, don’t be upset I assure you that is fictional.
Eftychia Psarra