Sidi Shayban’s Ramadan Iftars Challenge Israeli Restrictions in the West Bank | Israel’s conflict and the two

Burier, occupied West Bank- In a modest Ramallah hotel, nearly 100 displaced Palestinians from Gaza, most of them receive medical treatment, are silently waiting for breakfast. They sit on plastic chairs around long tables, bathing in the golden light of the sunset.

Have loss stories. Some tend to crutches and lost limbs. Parents monitor sick children, and exhaustive exhaustion in their faces.

Ahmed Abu Al -Alam and his volunteers move quickly, and distribute meals.

A handful of volunteers unloaded the trays and food boxes of two cars that just arrived from the kitchen, about 15 minutes away.

I run Abu Al -Alam, Sidi Shaiban, the community’s societal kitchen since 2002, when he served breakfast every Ramadan.

While meals pass around the hotel, it worries not enough food. “We are doing what we can,” he says. “But every donor has his own priorities. We can only distribute what we have presented.”

Among the displaced, Nahal, 36, who arrived in Ramallah with her daughter, Raghed, two months before the war. Raghd, 11, suffers from a nervous disorder, and Haya had to leave her husband and son behind him to visit Ramallah to treat Raghd.

“I have not been able to return since then,” she says with her heavy voice with longing. “Regardless of how difficult life is at home, nothing replaces belonging. We have a shelter here, and helps people who are good in the heart, but not at home.”

Next to her, Laila, an elderly woman from Gaza. She arrived at Augusta Victoria Hospital in Ogusta Victoria in the east with her granddaughter, Emira, who was cancer. “We arrived six months before the war,” telling Laila. “None of the Emir’s direct family was allowed to accompany her, so I came instead.”

On November 13, a princess died at the age of nine. Laila is still cut off, unable to go home.

It’s a white handkerchief. “I was here for nearly two years. I miss Gaza.”

With the start of breakfast, the room calms down and people take their first bites, whispering the prayers of gratitude. Abu Al -Alam and his team look at the guarantee of everyone. They are always another to break fasting.

Again in the kitchen

Through the living room and the balcony of his apartment in Al -Biriya, Abu Al -Alam, 43, moves quickly between bubble utensils.

This space is no longer similar to the house-the sofas and carpets have long been replaced with arduous stoves, and its heart, on which the wood increases, licks the huge boiler bases.

While Abu Al -Alam raises every cover, clouds of marinated steam rises, and the air is filled with the smell of slow cooked meat, onions and perfume rice. The smell is drifted to the street, and the curious passers -by.

In the temporary kitchen, move the volunteers, cut and season efficiently. Food comes along, and there is still time before Maghrib, when the sunset invitation to prayer indicates the end of daily fasting.

Soon after, the first visitors – some to sit and eat, and others to collect meals to enjoy the house.

Today’s list is Qudra, the Palestinian dish of carboned rice with chickpeas, garlic and slow cooked pregnancy. The meal is compatible with a huge oven operating in wood, while roasting a separate gas oven trays of chicken for diversity.

Near -placed, long tables are lined with containers, ready to be filled and distributed.

For Abu Al -Alam, this routine is the second nature.

“The idea of ​​the kitchen came through The second intifadaAbu Al -Alam explains, pressing chickpeas to test if it is cooked. “The Israeli siege on the West Bank left many families struggling, and we had to do something to help.”

The initiative has grown since the end of the second intifada in mid -2000 and adapting to the needs of society.

It was not until 2015, when it gained attraction on social media, the kitchen began his current name – in honor of the historical neighborhood where he fought the wandering governor, or the saint, who is believed to have traveled from Morocco, along with a sauce against the Crusades and was finally placed to rest here.

Since then, epidemics, occupation, economic hardships have come. In some years, the volunteers hosted the breaks to East Jerusalem and Gaza; In other cases, focus on the distribution of fast food.

General Breaks, known as “Mercy tablesIt is a centuries -old tradition that is observed in Ramadan all over the Islamic world. They collect societies together, which enhances generosity and solidarity in the spirit of the holy month.

This year, in the West Bank, comes in the middle Israeli violence Invisible escalation since 2002, which has blocked more than 40,000 people, and raised concerns about annexation. While El-Bireh has survived displacement, it has been amazed several times in the months before Ramadan.

Meet the increasing needs

A civilian and father of two children says that the kitchen task is to reach the largest possible number of families, regardless of the challenges. “We have provided support to many governments, even Gaza.

“This is fully funded through donations,” says Abu Al -Alam, who was able to use the house he inherited to a charitable center and move to another place. “What we offer, and how often we offer, depends on what people offer.”

Since the epidemic, the demand has increased. Then he came Israel’s war on Gaza She stressed the restrictions in the West Bank, which prompted more families to hardship.

He says, referring to the war in Gaza: “They have lost a lot of stable income everything after the October War,” referring to the war in Gaza. “Israel’s restrictions prevent Palestinian workers from reaching jobs. Who was supporting those families?”

Since October 2023, when the war began, Israel has created more than 900 road barriers across the West Bank, which led to the division of land and suffocation of livelihoods. The kitchen has struggled to work, but Abu Al -Alam and his team have adapted to the volunteers in various conservatives to ensure the arrival of the in need.

Among the volunteers Sherine, who came to the kitchen for the first time.

“I was a single mother for five years. I did not even know that this place was present until they helped me financially during a difficult period of time,” she says.

Kitchen organizers have helped pay the price of Sherine’s room and her children who can move to it, and continue to help her financially through the donations they collect.

Without an official degree, Sherine struggled to find work. “I couldn’t bear the lease or school fees for my children.” “But thanks to this kitchen, we passed. Now, the least I can do is to return the beautiful. I help prepare food and clean, and my children join Abu Al -Alam in the distribution of meals, especially during the month of Ramadan.”

The youngest volunteer is Mustafa, the 14 -year -old. Cartoon carries from yogurt and bottled drinks, moving quickly between the stations. He says: “I am here because I am an orphan, and I want to make others happy.” “Volunteer has always changed me. My mother always told me,” You are very soft for this type of work. “But I wanted to prove to her – and myself – to do that.”

This piece was published in cooperation with egab.