Crossing the Checkpoint and that Damn Wall

I am not really traveling anymore. I am volunteering with a peace organization.  The organization has given me a small one bedroom apartment walking distance from the office.  I will volunteer for three months and at the end of the three months, I will hopefully get another visa so I can stay longer.  (The visa is another issue entirely...will Israel give me a visa to work with Palestinians, maybe, maybe not).  I have been overwhelmed with emotion since I got here and I have been grappling with what to write because every day is like a week with everything I am experiencing and seeing.  I know in my heart, I am meant to be here.  I am not totally sure why yet or if my work will have an impact but I am grateful that God is guiding me.  Some people say they pick an issue but I say the issue picks you because believe me intellectually I'd much rather be on some beach somewhere studying turtles or something, not living behind a wall, where people are really, really suffering and struggling under the military occupation.  Although, these writings might offend people, I feel I have to relay my experiences and write what I have seen and write about the people I am meeting.  Every day I am blown away by something else that these people are dealing with.

So I guess to start, when I flew to Tel Aviv, there were three Israeli security men waiting on the tarmac for me.  They checked the flight registry and anyone who isn't Israeli with a one way ticket, gets pulled aside and questioned. (Or I really don’t know what their policy or strategy is but I know I got pulled aside on the tarmac.)  I didn't know they check the flight registry when I arrived so being pulled aside on the tarmac was unexpected. Everyone else was allowed on the shuttle bus with no question. When I finished walking down the stairs, they asked me to step aside, and then asked for my passport and for me to remove my sunglasses.  They proceeded to ask my like 10 questions about what I am doing here, do I know anyone, where am I going, why am I here, how long will I stay, etc, etc, etc.  I told the truth without telling the whole truth.  You have to when you come here because if I had said I am going to volunteer in a peace organization in the West Bank, they probably wouldn't have let me in. I met several people in my previous travels who were honest during the questioning and were not allowed in and other people who have been honest and been banned for life from Israel (which is really ten years). They don't want volunteers in the West Bank. And let me tell you, when you have something to hide and these security men who are trained to figure out if you are lying are interrogating you, it's terrifying!  I looked him in the eye and answered each question truthfully with a smile and eventually he let me on the shuttle bus. I then went to immigration, where I was again questioned by another person.  This interrogation was shorter and they finally let me pass.  When I walked through I remember thinking omg I'm in im in im in.  I had been thinking about this day since I left the country 18 months before. And I was finally back!

Thank God too because I love this place.  Israel, Palestine, the Holy Land, whatever you want to call it.  This place is incredible.  There is nowhere like it on earth.  When I am here, I feel at home. Whether you are religious or not, whether you believe or not, something holy, something amazing, something spiritual is here in this land.  You can feel the energy as soon as you arrive.  I want to volunteer and try to bring peace or at the very least help someone have hope but above that I feel like everyone should have a right to travel this land.  It is the Holy Land and I never want to be banned from it or not allowed in. I feel like a piece of me would die if that happened and I am not even from here. I can't even imagine what it must be like for the 7 million of refugees who have not been able to exercise their right of return, even if it's just for a visit.  I understand why people don't want to leave here and they continue life under the unbearable conditions.  It's not just about it being home for some of these people, it's also about it being the Holy Land.  For those who have been here, I am sure you know what I am talking about and for those who haven't been to Israel/Palestine, I hope you make it one day because this piece of land is part of our humanity on earth and the people living here have a responsibly to protect it. 

So OMG where to begin.  The wall, the checkpoint, the soldiers, the bus rides, the cars (insurance and tax) the dead streets,  the organization I work with, Easter/Christmas pass for Christians....I feel overwhelmed with how to explain.  I guess I will start with the wall and checkpoints.  Before the second intifada where the Palestinians had an uprising against the state of Israel, (this is when all the suicide bombers you have heard about where happening) anyone  could go back and forth between Israel and the West Bank.  But since then they have created an elaborate checkpoint system through the West Bank and to and from Israel.  They have also built a cement wall that destructively tears through the middle of the West Bank to keep Palestinians in the West Bank and to keep most Israelis (other than settlers out of the West Bank.  It is built to keep the people separate.  Separation breeds fear and hatred and misconception about the other.  If you never meet the other, you will easily believe whatever you are being told.

 So basically the way this works is...I stayed in Jerusalem for several days before  I came to The West Bank but when I decided to come to Bethlehem, I got on a bus in the Arab part of Jerusalem.  (I forgot to mention it is very segregated, the west part of Jerusalem is Israeli and the East side of Jerusalem is Arab). You can't take a bus to the West Bank from the Israeli part unless you are going to an Israeli settlement which I wasn't so I had to go to the Arab side of town.  I boarded the bus along with two other tourists and a bunch of Arabs.  A little outside of Jerusalem, the bus was flagged to stop.  Two Israeli soldiers got on the bus, checked everyone's passports and papers and then got off the bus.  They said nothing, they didn’t smile, and they carried automatic weapons.  It's pretty intimidating.  Going into the West Bank is pretty uneventful because Israeli security is not as concerned with people going into the West Bank as they are with people going out of the West Bank.  The only thing you are sure to see is the huge wall that carves through the land, which is intimidating, daunting, and suppressing in its own right.

But then a few days later, I was feeling a little restless in Bethlehem and I wanted to go back to Jerusalem.  The buses only run to and from Jerusalem until 7pm. So I could take a bus there, which was complicated enough but it would be even more complicated on the way back because I knew would be in Jerusalem after 7pm.  A girl that I work with, sat me down, and it literally took her a half hour to explain to me, how to catch the bus, which bus, where, and how to get back.  It's not because she talks a lot but it's literally that complicated.  I will try to explain.

So to go Jerusalem, I walked 20 minutes to the bus stop and got on a bus.  The bus drove out of Bethlehem along the separation wall, to the checkpoint where it stopped and all the Arabs are made to get off the bus.  The Israeli soldiers then get on the bus, check all the foreigners passports, and then get off the bus and check all the Arab's paperwork outside of the bus.  If anything is suspicious or if they are a type of Arab that is not allowed in to Israel, then they are not allowed back on the bus.  When I say a type of Arab not allowed into Israel, I am talking about several things.  The only Arabs that are allowed in Israel, are the ones who live in Israel. If you live in the West Bank you are not allowed in Israel. The only time some West Bank Arabs are allowed in Israel is if they are Christian (and registered with a church) but only during the month of Easter and the month of Christmas.  And only if they are granted permission.  No one else is allowed.  So right now, until May 4, (at the time of this writing) Christian West Bankers can visit Jerusalem. But after May 4, they have to stay behind the wall.

So anyways, then all the Arabs got back on the bus and we are off to Jerusalem.  The whole process takes about an hour and mind you Bethlehem is 5 miles from Jerusalem.  In a car, with no checkpoint, it would take 15 minutes.  Now to get back from Jerusalem to Bethlehem before 7pm, it's easy. I just take the bus from East Jerusalem back to Bethlehem, like I did when I came to Bethlehem the first time.  But since it was after 7, I had two options. One was, I would have to go to a specific street in West Jerusalem and catch a bus that goes to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.  This bus doesn't go through the checkpoint so I would have to be aware and right before the checkpoint, and before the bus takes a right to go to the settlement, I would have to ask to get off the bus.  (I would be allowed on this bus because I am a foreigner but Arabs are not allowed on this bus.)  Then I would have to walk through the checkpoint and the wall and then catch a Palestinian taxi back to Bethlehem.  The other option or if this bus was not running (like on Shabot), then I would have to take a Jerusalem taxi to the check point for $15 and then walk across the checkpoint and then take a Palestinian taxi back to Bethlehem for about $5 more.  The reason for this is because most Israeli cars are not allowed in certain parts of the West Bank so a taxi from Jerusalem can't cross the wall and checkpoint.  And most Palestinian cars are not allowed in Israel.  They distinguish between the two cars because Israeli cars have yellow tags and Palestinian cars have white tags.  There are some yellow tags in the West Bank.  These are cars owned by Arabs but they have to be insured by Israeli car insurance and Palestinian car insurance...so only very wealthy have this.  Sound complicated?  Have I lost you?  Luckily, I know some Jerusalem Palestinians that drove me back to Bethlehem the first night I crossed so I didn't have to deal with the settlement bus or the whole saga of taxis.  We just drove through the checkpoint, they let us go without much fuss, and these Pals were from Jerusalem so after dropping me off, they were allowed to go back.

But last night, I was with my co-workers (two of which are Christian Palestinians so they wanted to go over to get some Indian food and take advantage of being allowed into Israel because they never get to go and won't be able to go after May 4).  And let me just mention, Israel is a “developed country”, you can get anything you want, all types of food, things to do, events, places to go, etc. In the West Bank options are limited.  You can't get everything you want, business and investment isn't thriving, buildings are dilapidated, and abandoned, etc., so a night in Israel is loads of fun for people who are stuck behind this wall.

To get to Jerusalem, we drove to the checkpoint and parked the car at the wall because my co-worker’s car has white tags (the area along the wall, near the checkpoint has become an area to park because most cars can't cross). Also, just to give you an image, the wall is covered in beautiful artwork and graffiti.  Most of it is political.  Apparently on the Israeli side, it's illegal to paint the wall so the other side is totally gray cement.  To go through the check point, it's like walking through a prison.  There is barbed wire on top of the wall and all over the building. We walked through a covered, cement walkway, along the wall, into a huge warehouse type building, where we walked through metal railings (you know the kind they have at airports to make the lines curve around) to a metal detector. The Israeli soldier was in a little room, with darkened windows near the metal detector (so no actual human contact) and I barely could see him/her.  After we put our stuff through the metal detector, we walked through more of the railings, and came to another little room with a solider in it and we had to show him our papers/passports.  When we were passing through there was no one else there so we were interrupting him reading his book.  Poor guy,  what a boring, terrible job.  It was so depressing.  I showed him my passport, and all he said to me was, "have a good night". I didn't understand what he said and in the experience of crossing this wall, this barrier, with Palestinians, for the first time, I was terrified.  It was horrible and intimidating and oppressive, so my mind was racing.  The fear of being questioned, found out, not let through, were all going through my head so I said "what" and he said again, "have a good night" so I smiled at him and said "thanks".  We walked out the door and now we were on the other side of the wall, in Israel, where taxis wait to take people to Jerusalem five miles away.

This is where we ran into another problem.  There were five of us (so this means four in the back of the taxi) which is illegal.  Only one taxi would take us but one of us would have to hide our head and we would have to walk a little bit away from the wall so security wouldn't see all of us getting into the taxi.  Talk about an adventure.  It's one thing after another here.  So we rode into Jerusalem (12 minutes) each taking our turn with hiding our head.  (Also, I think it is worth mentioning that the only taxi drivers waiting at the checkpoint are Arab drivers.)

Once we got to Jerusalem, everything was closed because of Shabot. Literally Jerusalem becomes a ghost town.  I was starving and it was ten at night by the time we got there so I was feeling a little annoyed.  Like why did we go through all of that trouble, crossing the checkpoint, and everything, to come here on a Friday when literally everything is closed (including the Indian food restaurant we were supposed to go to). Why had no one thought of that?  But then I realized, for the people I was with, this was a special treat, a really, really special treat.  They got to walk around their holy city for one night, and they didn't care whether everything was closed.  It was exciting enough for them, just being there, because in the back of their minds, they knew that after March 4^th, until Christmas, they are locked behind the wall.  Luckily we found an Ethiopian restaurant and we had an amazing meal. At the end of the night, we took a Jerusalem taxi back to the wall and checkpoint.  We walked through the barbed wire-metal prison, and with a sigh of relief, back into the West Bank, where we walked along the separation wall back to the car.