Restricted Every Day: Dispatches from the West Bank

by John Whitehead

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A group of activists known as a Meta Peace Team (MPT) traveled to the West Bank this autumn. These activists are committed to “creating a nonviolent alternative to militarism.” During their West Bank work, the MPT is collaborating with the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement (ISM).  

The MPT and ISM’s joint mission includes “participating in Palestinian-led demonstrations, creatively disrupting activity by the Israeli occupation forces, [and] accompanying children to school and farmers to their fields.” They also aim to document for local and international media violations of Palestinian human rights by Israeli military personnel and settlers. 

This article continues the account of their experiences living among the Palestinian residents of the region.

A recurring challenge that the MPT members witnessed during their time in the West Bank was the sheer difficulty of getting from one place to another. Israeli-imposed restrictions on travel and who could be where at what time created significant complications.

MPT members witnessed such complications in the city of Al Khalil/Hebron, one of the largest cities in the West Bank. Since the 1990s, an Israeli-Palestinian agreement has divided the city into two sections. The largest section, Area H1, contains most of the city’s population and is under Palestinian control. A second, smaller section, Area H2, is subject to Israeli military control and includes Al Khalil’s Old City. Tens of thousands of Palestinians live in H2. The third section, known as the “Restricted Area,” is home to 700 Israeli settlers. 

The city’s division, particularly the presence of the Restricted Area, makes movement within the city extremely difficult. Life for Palestinians within the Israeli-controlled H2 is hampered by military checkpoints, barbed wire, barriers, and the settler presence. Traveling around the Restricted Area, which is guarded by military watchtowers, checkpoints, and soldiers, is roughly a 30-minute drive.

For Palestinian children in Al Khalil, simply attending school is a challenge. When the MPT members were visiting the city, school was in session only three days a week because funds to pay teachers were limited. Also, to get to school, children and teachers within the city’s H2 section may have to pass through military checkpoints. 

MPT members spent a morning watching boys and girls wait at one checkpoint while on their way to class. The students were excited to meet people from outside the region and despite limited English chatted with the MPT members: “Where are you from?” was a frequent question. The MPT members responded with questions in their limited Arabic, asking “What is your name?” and “How old are you?” Such conversations by the checkpoint took place amid the ominous presence of two armed soldiers on the roofs above, “with their fingers on the triggers of their automatic weapons.”  

Despite the militarized setting, the MPT members’ time at the checkpoint passed without incident. Later that day, though, the team members witnessed a group of heavily armed Israeli soldiers patrol the Old City. The soldiers stopped several Palestinian cars, checking IDs and searching car trunks.

While the MPT was in Al-Khalil, students faced an obstacle beyond the usual restrictions. The Palestinian Ministry of Education closed school for a week because of Sukkot, a Jewish harvest festival. During the week-long holiday, many visitors came to Al-Khalil and Palestinians were restricted from moving around the city. The Education Ministry therefore opted to close schools for student safety.

The holiday restrictions do not apply only to students. One Palestinian activist interviewed by the MPT members reported that during the holiday the Israeli military confined her and her neighbors to their homes for eight days. The activist commented that “This is in addition to the assault on residents in their homes, searching them and beating them.” She also reported that Israeli forces had recently confiscated her car, for “security reasons.” 

The disruptions to daily life extend well beyond Al-Khalil. During a lull in their regular activities, the MPT members opted to travel to the cities of Nazareth and Taybeh. This involved some team members renting a car in Jerusalem and picking up the others in the city of Ramallah, within Palestinian-controlled territory in the West Bank.

Despite Jerusalem and Ramallah being only 10 miles apart, the trip ended up taking three hours. Neither Google maps nor the Israeli app Waze would help the travelers navigate within the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank. They had to call Israeli and Palestinian friends to get driving advice. Moreover, the trip involved multiple dead-ends as the travelers met roads closed by military checkpoints and roadblocks. They were eventually able to pass through the Qalandia checkpoint in Jerusalem to reach their destination. 

The following day, the trip from Ramallah to Nazareth proved no less arduous. Leaving Ramallah took two hours and involved further encounters with road closures and Israeli military checkpoints. Despite these obstacles, the MPT members likely benefited from being foreigners in a rental car with Israeli plates. Ordinary Palestinians trying to travel in the region lack those advantages.

Given the innumerable difficulties Palestinians in the West Bank face simply navigating daily life, it is not surprising that a frequently used Arabic term is “kool yom,” translated as “every day.” Palestinians would show MPT members video of settlers harassing their families or attacking their property. Sometimes in response to questioning and sometimes unprompted, they will say such things happen “Every day.” 

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 More stories from the MPT trip to the West Bank will be shared in a future post.