{"id":177490,"date":"2020-04-16T07:56:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T07:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=177490"},"modified":"2020-04-16T13:04:39","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T13:04:39","slug":"what-is-it-like-to-cycle-in-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/16\/what-is-it-like-to-cycle-in-palestine\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is It Like to Cycle in Palestine?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If anyone can adapt easily to the movement restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, it is the Palestinians living in the West Bank. They have had their movement restricted for years. One of the ways some Palestinians attempt to ride out those restrictions is to get on a bike.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But their movement has been restricted even more since the pandemic broke out. Residents of the West Bank are allowed to leave their homes only for reasons essential to their well-being, such as purchasing food or visiting health institutions, which has made a bad situation worse. Cycling is clearly viewed as non-essential. But once the pandemic has passed, the 3,000 members of the Facebook group Cycling Palestine will certainly be back on their bikes.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B-pLe-cgwX_\/<\/p>\n

Cycling Palestine was founded in 2016 under the name Ramallah Riders by Palestinian paramedic Sohaib Samara and other cyclists around Ramallah, a city of 27,000 inhabitants on the West Bank. It now has members from all over the area. But it wasn\u2019t an easy ride from the start. Friends and family members told Samara who was 30 at the time: \u201cYou\u2019re an old man now. You should be working, starting a family. Cycling is stupid.\u201d But you can\u2019t put a dedicated cyclist down. As his friend and Cycling Palestine co-organizer Malak Hasan said, jokingly, \u201cwe\u2019ve been doing this for over four years now. People have lost hope in us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hasan learned to love cycling when she was studying for a master\u2019s degree in communication in the English city of Swansea. As a hajib-wearing Muslim woman, she has faced her share of criticism. \u201cPeople are always throwing comments in my face, such as, \u2018how could you be a good Muslim, showcasing yourself like this?\u2019\u201d she said. In 2017, Hasan was one of the two women on a four-day, 11-person group ride from the Qalandiya refugee camp near Ramallah to Jordan\u2019s Aqaba, a journey of some 480 km. When they returned, she was sharply attacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the comments were like, \u2018how could you sleep in tents and on deserted roads with nine men?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThe expectation for a woman is to be at home, taking care of babies, being decent and modest.\u201d But, she added, her husband who doesn\u2019t cycle is very supportive. Friends and family members are not the only sources of strife. On one ride, Samara and a friend were pulled over by an Israeli army patrol. Samara heard the soldiers asking, in Hebrew, whether they should shoot the two cyclists in the arms.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B-g82F4guqY\/<\/p>\n

Samara said he was not afraid for himself. \u201cAt the end of the day, if I\u2019m going to die, I\u2019m going to die. But I was worried that if I tried to defend myself or even argue that the soldiers had no right to stop us, they might later blow up my family\u2019s house. Your brain starts to wander in dark places when, really, you just want to keep cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there is the terrain and the weather. The West Bank is hilly and hot for a better part of the year. But Cycling Palestine has persisted and continues to grow. While its weekly rides are for locals and leisure, Hasan said that cycling in Palestine is also a tool for change. \u201cEnvironmentally, it\u2019s good; socially, it\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s the best icebreaker. Whenever we are on the road, someone wants to talk to us, find out who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If anyone can adapt easily to the movement restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, it is the Palestinians living in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":177492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334],"tags":[4067,4065,4066],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-177490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-socialising-and-culture","tag-cycling-palestine","tag-palestine","tag-ramallah-riders","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is It Like to Cycle in Palestine? - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If anyone can adapt easily to the movement restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, it is the Palestinians living in the West Bank. 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