“No Smiling at the Terminal”
It seems this is the new rule! I learned that yesterday, on my way back home from work. Its always a hassle to get to Jerusalem from Bethlehem, crossing the terminal is never an easy thing to do, but yesterday it was terrible both ways.
Coming back to the terminal, people were lined up outside, almost reaching the street. Usually, women and girls don’t wait in line; we keep walking to the door and then are usually let in with much less wait than the men. This time, there was a soldier at the door, trying to keep “order” and he decided that girls should wait in line just like the men. We asked him to form a new line, just for girls, he didn’t mind, but he didn’t let us in either. We waited and waited, wondering what the justification was for checking us when we are only heading home, to Bethlehem! The soldier was obviously having a bad day and was screaming at everyone. Later he left, and people were wondering if we should proceed inside without his “orders” or not. There were no people at the windows, and we were standing in line, just waiting for him to “let us through”, most of the people were scared of the punishment if they were caught going inside without being told to do so! I was raging inside, as this made me feel so much less than a human being.
Later, the soldier came back and we got inside. And it seems, one of the guys was “smiling”, as the soldier yelled “Hey, You, Why are you laughing?” the guy said that there was no reason, that he just felt like it. So the soldier yelled at him again and said, “You are not allowed to smile”, the guy asked “how so?” and the soldier said “You are in a terminal, you are not allowed to laugh in here!” The other men were advising the guy to stop arguing, but he wouldn’t, he said “I want to smile and no one in the world should prevent me from doing that!” I felt so proud of him! The soldier approached him and took him away. For all I know, he would be beaten, maybe arrested, and the crime is: “Smiling at the terminal”.
