{"id":1436,"date":"2026-06-10T19:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/06\/10\/palestinian-rock-climbing-in-west-bank-hindered-by-israeli-settlements\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T19:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:01:34","slug":"palestinian-rock-climbing-in-west-bank-hindered-by-israeli-settlements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=1436","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian rock climbing in West Bank hindered by Israeli settlements"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"t-content t-content--edition\" id=\"main-content\">\n<div class=\"t-content__with-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"t-content__beside-sidebar\" data-article-content>\n<h1 class=\"t-content__title a-page-title\">Palestinian rock climbing in West Bank hindered by Israeli settlements<\/h1>\n<div class=\"m-master-tag\">\n<div class=\"a-tag-section\">\n                                    Middle East\n                            <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"o-video-player o-video-player--16x9 t-content__main-media \" data-media-video-wbmz556122-f24-en-20260610 data-show-hidden-video-player=\"WBMZ556122-F24-EN-20260610\" data-wrapper-video-player data-autoplay-video-link data-youtube-script>\n<div class=\"o-em-consent \">\n<div class=\"o-em-consent__content\">\n<p class=\"o-em-consent__content__text\">To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.<\/p>\n<p>        <button class=\"a-master-button a-master-button--dark\" data-action=\"accept\"><br \/>\n            Accept<\/p>\n<p>        <\/button><br \/>\n        <button class=\"a-link\" data-action=\"manage\">Manage my choices                <\/p>\n<p><\/button>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o-em-adblock\" data-adblock-content>\n<div class=\"o-em-adblock__content\">\n<p class=\"o-em-adblock__content__text\">One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.<\/p>\n<p>            <button class=\"a-master-button a-master-button--dark\" data-action=\"reload\">Try again<\/button>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"m-item-image m-item-image--16x9 m-item-image--has-caption\">\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/b36365a8-64dd-11f1-b965-005056bf30b7\/w:1024\/p:16x9\/fond-horizontal-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/b36365a8-64dd-11f1-b965-005056bf30b7\/w:388\/p:16x9\/fond-horizontal-1.jpg 388w,https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/b36365a8-64dd-11f1-b965-005056bf30b7\/w:720\/p:16x9\/fond-horizontal-1.jpg 720w,https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/b36365a8-64dd-11f1-b965-005056bf30b7\/w:1024\/p:16x9\/fond-horizontal-1.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1076px) 100vw, 1012px\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" alt=\"Climbing spots in Yabrud (left) and Ein Qiniya (right) in the occupied West Bank. \" loading=\"eager\" class=\"a-img \"><figcaption class=\"a-figcaption\">\n    Cover image:            Climbing spots in Yabrud (left) and Ein Qiniya (right) in the occupied West Bank.         \u00a9 Instagram \/ @ag.faris\u00a0    <\/figcaption><div class=\"m-item-image__overlay-wrapper\">\n                <button class=\"m-main-media-btn\" aria-label=\"Palestinian rock climbing in West Bank hindered by Israeli settlements: Play the video\"><br \/>\n    <span class=\"m-main-media-btn__picto\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"a-circle-loader\">\n<\/div>\n<p><\/button>\n                <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div data-hidden-video-player=\"WBMZ556122-F24-EN-20260610\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"t-content__metadata\">\n<div class=\"t-content__dates\">\n<p class=\"m-pub-dates\"><span class=\"m-pub-dates__date\">Issued on: <time datetime=\"2026-06-10T16:41:27+00:00\">10\/06\/2026 &#8211; 18:41<\/time><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"a-share-button\" data-root-share>\n<p>                            <span class=\"a-master-button__label\">Share<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>                                                    <a href=\"\/en\/tv-shows\/observers\/\" class=\"t-content__program m-program\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"m-program__label\">From the show<\/div>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/f6ee0408-0f3c-11ee-add5-005056a90284\/EN-the-observers.svg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/f6ee0408-0f3c-11ee-add5-005056a90284\/EN-the-observers.svg\" alt=\"The Observers\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"a-img  a-img--svg\"><\/p>\n<p>                    <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"t-content__reading-time a-reading-time\">\n<p>                        <span class=\"t-content__reading-time__label\">Reading time<\/span><br \/>\n                        2 min<\/div>\n<p class=\"t-content__chapo\">\n                                        Rock climbing has exploded in popularity in recent years,\u00a0and it has happened in the occupied West Bank, too.\u00a0But Palestinian climbers face numerous obstacles,\u00a0largely fueled by the expansion of Israeli settlements.                <\/p>\n<div class=\"t-content__body u-clearfix\">\n<p>Rock climbing&#8217;s popularity has grown steadily in the occupied <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/west-bank\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\">West Bank<\/a> in recent years. A Palestinian official climbing association was established in 2019 and was admitted to the international federation in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Our team spoke to Faris Abu Gosh, a Palestinian climber who lives in the Kalandia refugee camp:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote\">\n<p>&#8220;I started in a bouldering gym in Ramallah, called Wadi Climbing.\u00a0It&#8217;s the only bouldering gym we have.\u00a0After that, I went into outdoor climbing. We have great sport climbing cliffs in Palestine.<\/p>\n<p>What got me to love climbing was, first, the sense of community you have. In bouldering, you have everyone helping each other, to work against the boulder problems.\u2028You&#8217;re basically training every aspect of your body, mentally and physically.\u00a0It gives you this sense of achievement that everyone tries to fulfill.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Climbing spots closed by Israeli military<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Faris loves climbing so much that he decided to become a physical therapist specialised in climbing injuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Palestinian climbers face some obstacles, however. They have lost access to several crags\u00a0\u2013 for instance, at Yabrud, which had been Faris\u2019s favourite spot.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote\">\n<p>&#8220;The biggest reason and the only reason is the occupation.\u00a0One day, while walking from the village of Yabrud to the crag, we saw a tent on top of the crag: a new settler outpost. People from the village of Yabrud told us: &#8216;Don&#8217;t go there, there&#8217;s an armed settler.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>After one to two weeks, extremist settlers attacked the village of Silwad, which is on the other side of the crag.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After that, one more time, friends of mine went: Israeli soldiers came in and they kicked them out, using the excuse of safety reasons. Now it&#8217;s a military closed zone. Now it&#8217;s inaccessible.<\/p>\n<p>It was my favorite climbing crag.\u00a0I can go on. There are other crags that happened the same.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The army has closed another site to Palestinians, called Ein Yabrud, further south.\u00a0The Israeli Climbing Association has since developed it, and only Israeli climbers climb there.<\/p>\n<p>Other sites like Ein Fara remain open to Palestinian climbers, but only after going through the checkpoints and barriers that are part of life in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tv-shows\/reporters\/20260320-israel-west-bank-up-against-the-wall-plight-of-would-be-palestinian-workers\" target=\"_self\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\">West Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"t-content__authors\">\n<div class=\"m-from-author\">\n                    <span class=\"m-from-author__by-label\"><br \/>\n                By:<br \/>\n            <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"m-author m-author--small m-author--has-image\">\n<div class=\"m-author__image\">\n                                                    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