The West Bank: Not What You Need to Know - What You Should Know

I arrived in the West Bank the other day. What I am about to write is not meant to be political. I am merely writing what I observed for my friends at home who are dying to know. I want people to know why this project is so immensely difficult to accomplish.The Palestinian side of this conflict is grossly under reported in the US and this will be very difficult for me to describe because you really have to be here and walk the land and feel the dirt and see the pain for it to bring you to tears. I am writing to you from Aisha's house. She is the coordinator for COHI on the Palestinian side and so desperately want to see this coexistance project work.

This is Aisha asisting with a birth at the clinic we visited up in the north. I love this shot becuase it looks like the baby is glowing. You work with the light you have...this happened to be perfect!

This is one of the four midwifes who works a 16 hour shift at the only birth center in all of the west bank. They see about 40 women a month and are severly underpaid. I got to see two women in labor while vising for less than 3 hours.

Where do I start, this war has such a history. Maybe I will start with misconceptions. It has been wonderful staying here in East Jerusalem. Everywhere I go around Israel and I told people I was going to the West Bank they said "but why it is so dangerous?". I will be staying in East Jerusalem... what?!?!!? I will be going to a Party in Ramalla...what?!?!? I will be traveling to Jenin...what?!!?! I am going to Bethlehem for the day...What?!?!? I will be going to Hebron....what?!?!?! Well this is my challenge: Why are these places so dangerous? Have you been there? Has something happened to you while you were there?

The streets of Bethlahem in the morning before all of the shops are open

The countryside of the West Bank on the road to Jenin

Dance party in Ramalla

Answers: No. Israeli's are not legally allowed to be in the West Bank. The reality is that I feel safer in the West Bank than I do in Israel. I feel totally comfortable walking around at night by myself in East Jerusalem. I had the most fun in my life dancing at a house party in Ramalla last weekend. There are so many amazing historical sites in Bethlehem it would be a shame to come here and miss this city. The only time I felt in danger was at the check points. The 18-20 year old Israeli soldiers boasting semi automatics and giving me a hard time about my passport. This is the only time I felt scared. People know here that I am Jewish and I have been welcomed by the people with open arms and endless cups of Turkish coffee. The dangerous part for Israelis?: The check points. If you come to the West Bank the only danger you have is getting arrested by the soldiers at the check points. My passport wasn't good enough. They needed to see my entrance visa (which they had a hard time reading through the glass walls).

Ok this is a place in Hebron no one on either side is happy about. This is the only place where a settlement is literally built on top of a Palistinian town. Bellow are the arabs and above are the Israelis. This is the town where they most conflict occurs. As you can see a fense had to be built above the arab village becuase the Isreali children throw rocks and trash down on the arabs as they walk through the streets.

This fear is based on the fact that people have not had the ability to come to this beautiful amazing part of the country to see, feel, and taste the culture. I know everyone feels like they have a right to this land but I feel like what is currently happening is modern day colonialism. I mean if the British didn't kill most of the Native Americans we would be in the same predicament today. I know the Palestinians have resorted to violence and have been bombing and shooting and this is what we hear about in the news and I agree it is wrong. However, in America this is the only thing we hear about in the news but you have to ask yourself why? Why would an otherwise absolutely peaceful culture resort to violence?

Crowded winding streets of the UN refugee camp

The refugee camp was full of children like this playing and running around the streets darting in and out of cars

Ok some history from this side of things. In 1948 when a flood of people started coming into this country they had to go somewhere. Hordes of Palestinians were removed, kick off, or had to flee there land but where did they go? I saw the refugee camps that were "temporarily" set up in 1948 in Beit Jala to house all of these people. Today what I saw wanted to make me cry. 60 years later and these neighborhoods are still completely funded by the UN, completely overrun, dirty, over crowded, and ridden with poverty. It is like this because all of these people are waiting to go back. For 60 years. They want to go back to there old homes. However, with the restrictions they have they are not allowed to leave the West Bank so I am not sure if they will have the opportunity to go to their old homes and villages. If they did they would find that there old homes no longer exist. I am fortunate being an American or a foreigner because I have more mobility than anyone who lives in these two countries and I have the ability to be open minded and educate myself on the situation. I really feel like if Israelis could come here and see this with there own "open" eyes this conflict would be different. These people are suffering so much. But this is not possible. In 2003 a giant wall was built to completely enclose Palestine. To the Israelis this greatly increased security. There have been zero suicide bombings since the wall has been built so this is a testament that the wall is working. But at what expense?

What was once the city center of Hebron now a deserted zone of conflict in the West Bank
This is a Palistinian boy looking into the gate of a street that is illigaly closed to him in Hebron. On the otherside (what you can't see in this picuture) are armed vehicles and soliders

Let me give you a feel for what the wall is doing for my life as a foreigner traveling here and then times it by 10 for these people living here. Aisha, the woman I am staying with has a house in Ramalla. Before the wall was built it took exactly 4 minutes to drive to her house from here where I am currently staying. So yesterday without any lines or stopping our vehicle it took us exactly 45 minutes to get there. The other day we went to Jenin to visit a birth center which is about an hour and a half....if it was a straight shot...but it took us 3 hours and we could not drive there with Aisha's car because it had an Israeli licence plate so we had to take a car, to a bus, to a taxi stop half way get off at a check point, walk across (which means going through metal detectors and showing our ID, get in another taxi and repeat to go home again. It was absolutely exhausting and expensive. And we were super lucky because we weren't going through rush hour so the lines were short. So people wait in lines at the check points for up to 4 hours. Holy crap! This may be a burden when you are trying to get to work on time....but if there is an emergency, if you are rushing to the hospital to have C-section because you have an at risk pregnancy this is downright dangerous and deadly. People have died at the wall waiting. None of these deaths are reported in the American news papers.

If you are interested in learning more about how the wall affects the Palestinian communities visit this site: http://stopthewall.org/FAQs/33.shtml. In 2007, 5 women gave birth at check points because the soldiers would not let them pass. If you want more information about this visit this site: http://www.btselem.org/english/Medical_Treatment/Index.asp.

There is so much to say but this is just a taste. Again, I want to reiterate this is not written to favor any sides. I am simply telling the story of what I have observed in being here for a few days and relaying my shock of what has been hidden from me in the American mainstream media. More to come soon.