Palestine: Another Brick in the Wall

It's been a while!

We're now well along with our trip, currently in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and I have quite a bit of catching up to do. Mostly in an attempt to keep myself from getting bored writing only about stuff from fully three months past at this point, I'll be doing a bunch of hopping around. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

What better place to start than Bethlehem? We spent a couple days here back in mid-November—my how time flies. Anyway, it was quite the eye opener into the daily goings of a society effectively silenced by the media and their ruling counterparts in Israel. Travelling the world really is the best education there is for some things. You're not likely to meet a Palestinian abroad with all the restrictions they face, so really the best way to learn about the situation is to just go there.

First, some background for those not aware as this stuff doesn't exactly make the mainstream news, especially in the US. It really is an incredibly complex situation when you break it down.

Let's start off simple. Israel is actually two states, Israel and Palestine, neither of which recognize each other. The Palestinian territories have been slowly whittled down through the years through the expansion of Israeli settlements and various other events.

Israel and Palestinian territories through the years

Palestine IDs and Travel Documents

Israelis aren't normally allowed into the Palestinian areas and vice versa. Doing so requires either a special ID or special permission. We got a breakdown of what this means to Palestinians from our hosts at the guesthouse we stayed at and shop owners around town.

First, Palestinians will have one of two types of IDs: Jerusalem ID or Palestine ID. Those with Jerusalem IDs are allowed free passage between borders at any time, but they are only permitted to sleep in Palestine one night a week. Jerusalem IDs also get spiffy yellow license plates for their cars so the guards at the checkpoints can distinguish from the white Palestinian plates and whisk them through.

Those with Palestine IDs are only permitted entry into Israel with special permission, and even then they have to be back by sundown or face strict questioning and general harassment. This special permission is apparently not so easy to come by; there are no work permits, so this severely limits work opportunities, in addition to limiting access to proper medical care and other things.



Now here's where it really gets complex: what happens when a Jerusalem ID and Palestine ID get married? The family at the guesthouse was in just such a situation. The wife, a Jerusalem ID, comes into Bethlehem everyday but returns to a house on the Israeli side on all but one night a week with her daughter, also a Jerusalem ID. The husband has to stay in Palestine for the duration, although he was never home due to work.

The children born into this arrangement get divided: half get Jerusalem IDs, half get Palestine IDs. They had four children, with the youngest daughter still in high school. The daughter has a Jerusalem ID, so she has to return with her mother everyday to Jerusalem where she goes to school.

While many Palestinians simply don't have the means, those that do want to travel are presented with another headache: passports. The Palestinian Authority does issue passports, but they require pre-arranged visas for all countries but Jordan. Most Palestinians that travel thus have Jordanian passports for travelling, although they aren't issued national ID numbers. Some countries thus have restrictions on Jordanian passports without national ID numbers, effectively meaning Palestinians.

The Wall: Apartheid Alive and Well

Eight meters of love

Between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, we found an 8m-high separation wall (the Berlin Wall was only four meters, for reference), which spanned 486 of a planned 760 kilometers in 2009. This wall was built in 2002 in response to the Second Intifada, which if you're anything like me probably got lost in your memory banks amidst the myriad of endless conflicts in this area. The particular incident that lead to the wall concluded in a standoff with Palestinians in the Church of Nativity in which eight were killed and 40 wounded, some of them civilians and priests. The Hague ruled the wall illegal in 2004, and yet here it stands.

Besides simply casting a dark shadow of general malaise and bad mojo, this wall affects every Palestinian within its confines in a number of ways. First, it was all built in Palestinian territory, closing off Palestinians from 16,000 acres of land that was formerly theirs in the Bethlehem district alone. This separated villagers from their orchards, fields, water supplies, and even stores in some cases. We heard a story of one family who had a store right next to their house: their store is now on the Israeli side while their home still sits in Palestine, effectively killing their livelihood.

Given how voiceless they are on in world forum, Palestinians are very eager to let the outside world in on their plights. In Bethlehem just outside the Church of the Nativity, there's plenty of information on their side of the whole Israel-Palestine situation awaiting the curious at the tourist information center. There are two sides to every story, but most of the time we hear only the Israeli side.

Visiting Bethlehem

Considering all the difficulties Palestinians are subjected to, the hassles you'll experience visiting Palestine are trivial. First, if you plan on visiting Palestine on your trip to Israel, do not say anything about it at the border. Best to save yourself that headache—it'll just mean more questions.

For self-guided tours, only Arab buses are permitted to travel from Israel to Palestine—in our case, Jerusalem to Bethlehem—but even these are limited to daytime hours. No buses will run directly into town after about 6 PM, instead dropping you on the Israeli side of the checkpoint. You'll have to cross the border yourself and find your own transport on the other side. Taxis are lined up just waiting to overcharge you. The bus from Jerusalem to Bethlehem only takes about 30 minutes, so it's best to just leave in time to avoid this situation.

Safety was a non-issue compared to other places we've been, but I'd take care walking around aimlessly at night. Most Palestinians are very welcoming to visitors though and will gladly guide you around. We stayed a good 10-15 minutes walk from the main area centered on the Church of the Nativity, but there are plenty of places to stay closer in.

Given its proximity, there are also day tours visiting from Jerusalem. We didn't take this option, but I'm sure if you ask any hotel in Jerusalem they'll tell you all about it. We ran across at least one guy who rented a bicycle in Jerusalem for a self tour. He seemed to be getting around well enough.

Compared to Israel, you'll experience a noted degradation in quality standards of life as soon as you cross the checkpoint. There's less sanitation, poor access to hospitals, and less upkeep in general. It's like a third world Arab country in the middle of a first world Israel. You also may have trouble finding a bank that'll let you withdraw shekels, so bring enough with you if possible. Some ATMs there even tried to issue us Jordanian Dinars! I'm guessing this means that JD are accepted in Palestine, but I haven't tested that theory.

More on what there is to see in Bethlehem in our next episode.