ROADTRIPS

"Ramallah Cafe"

It's hard to see the world as a nice place when you live in a military occupied territory, but the feeling of togetherness is the only thing left on a extreme reality. This is the Palestinian spirit: hope for a better future, you only need to ask for a coffee to find it.

"Ramallah Cafe" is located on Rukab Street in Ramallah City, West Bank, it's a gathering place of artists and intelectuals. Between the smell of turkish coffee mixed with tobacco, it's hard to find a young man in this small place crowded by old issues: Israeli occupation and business. But this is the charm that has made it a tourist attraction for the activists that go to Palestine to understand one of the main conflicts in modern history and find something that westerners are always looking for: a goal in life. Here the goal is freedom.

You can take a seat in a table and someone will soon ask you: ¿Real Madrid or Barcelona?, the chat with probably lead to a story of family overseas. The main subjects go from the life before the creation of the Israeli State to the demonstrations every friday on Palestinian villages against the "Apartheid Wall" Israel started building in 2002. Young demonstrators throw stones to the wall while soldiers shoot tear gas.

On fridays, day off in the Middle East, photographers and journalists gather when the Cafe opens. With bulletproof vests, gas masks and telephoto lenses, the palestinian media make groups to go to the demonstrations in the nearest village of Bil'in, the dangerous Nabi Saleh or in special occasions to the Kalandia military checkpoint on the road to Jerusalem.

In the evening all of them come back to the Cafe and upload their most recent shots of soldiers harassing people to Facebook. Listening to the "Oud" until the place closes, they stay not because of friendship, but because they know they have to be together. Ramallah Cafe is not only a place, like Palestine, is the materialization of one of the most deep human desires: Freedom.