Omar Hajajleh is a local school bus driver in the occupied West Bank
village of al-Walaja.

Al-Walaja lies between the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem and
occupied East Jerusalem.

In 2015, Israel built the separation wall directly through Hajajleh’s
land, cutting off his family home from the rest of the village.

The only way for the family to access the village is through a tunnel
and past a steel gate that only they have remote control access to.

Due to a series of barriers placed by Israeli occupation forces, a
roadblock now lies between children of the al-Walaja village and their
school on the other side.

Hajajleh found himself uniquely positioned to take local children to
school as only he had access to the valley leading to the school.

As is shown in the video, Hajajleh takes the children halfway to school
in one bus and walks them past a permanent Israeli roadblock and loads
the children onto a second bus and continue to school.

Hajajleh fears that the road he takes may soon be closed off by the
wall, which is still being built by Israeli occupation forces.

Video by Akram al-Wa’ra and Nidal al-Waheidi