Rock climbing has exploded in popularity in recent years, and it has happened in the occupied West Bank, too. But Palestinian climbers face numerous obstacles, largely fueled by the expansion of Israeli settlements.
Rock climbing’s popularity has grown steadily in the occupied West Bank in recent years. A Palestinian official climbing association was established in 2019 and was admitted to the international federation in 2024.
Our team spoke to Faris Abu Gosh, a Palestinian climber who lives in the Kalandia refugee camp:
“I started in a bouldering gym in Ramallah, called Wadi Climbing. It’s the only bouldering gym we have. After that, I went into outdoor climbing. We have great sport climbing cliffs in Palestine.
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. You’re basically training every aspect of your body, mentally and physically. It gives you this sense of achievement that everyone tries to fulfill.”
Climbing spots closed by Israeli military
Faris loves climbing so much that he decided to become a physical therapist specialised in climbing injuries.
Palestinian climbers face some obstacles, however. They have lost access to several crags – for instance, at Yabrud, which had been Faris’s favourite spot.
“The biggest reason and the only reason is the occupation. One 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: ‘Don’t go there, there’s an armed settler.’
After one to two weeks, extremist settlers attacked the village of Silwad, which is on the other side of the crag.
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’s a military closed zone. Now it’s inaccessible.
It was my favorite climbing crag. I can go on. There are other crags that happened the same.”
The army has closed another site to Palestinians, called Ein Yabrud, further south. The Israeli Climbing Association has since developed it, and only Israeli climbers climb there.
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 West Bank.
