I saw a young man I once knew as a child. Now grown, with a family of his own and no way to provide for them, he has returned to the same place.
It is heartbreaking to see children robbed of their childhood as they toil on the streets.
Even more heartbreaking is the sight of five-year-olds—still so small—already pushed into the labor market.
At the Qalandiya military checkpoint, I met girls who, until two years ago—before the war on Gaza erupted and choked life in the West Bank—rarely left their homes.
Now, with their fathers out of work and no food on the table, they stand beside their brothers, gathering a few shekels to keep their families alive.
I saw a young man I once knew as a child. Now grown, with a family of his own and no way to provide for them, he has returned to the same place, selling the same small goods he did a generation ago. This time, his eyes are heavier.
These children and young men are called “vendors,” but in truth, they are beggars against their will.
No child—or adult—chooses to walk kilometers of sun-scorched road, pleading with passing drivers and pedestrians to exchange unwanted trinkets for coins.
I also ran into a familiar face—a defense attorney at the military court in Ofer Prison. We stood and spoke at length.
He told me about the prisoners: about the hunger, the weight melting off their bodies, about Ben Gvir’s cruel rulings.
I had no words to offer, only groans and sighs—grief for a reality that has turned so many in the West Bank into victims of a war they did not start and cannot escape.
(All Photos: Tamar Fleishman, The Palestine Chronicle. Translated by Tal Haran, Edited by the Palestine Chronicle)
– As a member of Machsomwatch, Tamar Fleishman documents events at Israeli military checkpoints between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Her reports, photos and videos can be found on the organization’s website: www.machsomwatch.org. She is also a member of the ‘Coalition of Women for Peace’ and a volunteer in ‘Breaking the Silence’. Tamar Fleishman is The Palestine Chronicle correspondent at the Qalandiya checkpoint.
