The Moses Legacy

Chapter 102

‘It says that the crossing is open till eight!’ Goliath was shouting, pointing at the sign.

He was at what the Jordanians call the ‘Sheikh Hussein Crossing’ between Jordan and the north of Israel.

‘You have to arrive an hour before,’ the middle-aged Jordanian official was explaining.

‘But this is an emergency!’ Goliath pleaded, not sure of what he would say if they asked him what he meant. ‘And it’s not like there’s a whole long queue. The hour before is presumably to give you time to do the paperwork.’

Friday is the Islamic day of rest and in Israel everything stops early on Friday in order to enable Jews to prepare for the Jewish day of rest which commences half an hour before sunset on Friday night and carries on until sunset the next day. It was now half past seven and the sun had just set.

‘I could let you through on this side, but the Israelis won’t let you through.’

‘Can’t you at least ask them? My sister is sick. I just had a call from my brother-in-law. I was visiting Petra and I was due back in a few days, but I got a call and he told me to come back. The other bridge was closed so I thought it was better to come this way. I am not even sure if she is in a hospital now because I lost my phone. All I know is-’

‘Wait a minute,’ said the Jordanian official.

He walked off and spoke to a colleague. Then he walked over to the Israeli side and spoke to several of their officials. The talk seemed to last for ages. When the official finally came back he was smiling.

‘Okay. You can go through.’