What the Pope won't see...

What the Pope won't see...

Donald Macintyre: At 5am, Palestinians wait at a checkpoint in Bethlehem to work in Jerusalem... and they are the lucky ones.

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

By the time Pope Benedict arrives at Gilo the crush of thousands of Palestinian workers will be over

By the time Pope Benedict arrives at Gilo the crush of thousands of Palestinian workers will be over

It is 5.45am, just a few minutes before sunrise, when the bottleneck at the entrance to the narrow, fenced-in checkpoint path in Bethlehem is at its worst. There is scuffling when the tempers of the men, many of whom have been up since 3am, begin to fray as they compete to squeeze into the alley to queue for a lengthy series of Israeli security checks of their IDs, work permits, and biometric palm prints.

A sort of order is restored when Mohammed Abed, 48, standing in the queue that snakes back along the grey eight-metre concrete slabs that make up the separation wall, remonstrates. Pressed by the jostling crowd against an older man who by now is wincing and distinctly pale, Mr Abed warns in a loud authoritative voice: "People are coming in without waiting in line."

This is the first stage of a journey that will – just over an hour later if all goes smoothly, but up to three hours (or not at all) if it doesn't – land the Palestinian men in Jerusalem with the highly-prized prospect of a day's hard labour on an Israeli building site, earning between £32 and £40 a day.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/what-the-pope-wont-see-1679011.html