Recently there have been confrontations around Palestine between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians protesting against home demolitions and the restriction of access to important mosques in East Jerusalem. I posted this about travelling to Jerusalem from Ramallah, though it’s a bit different at the moment.
Step 1:
Check the news and ask friends to try and find out whether it’s possible or safe to travel. The checkpoint might have been closed down again or the roads might still be full of burning tyres, soldiers with rubber bullets and tear gas and lads throwing rocks. In the case that all is well, or perhaps in case of
Step 2:
Find the bus station and board a minibus, as usual. Sit on the floor.
Step 3:
Listen carefully as the bus driver provides alternative instructions for your journey. For example, “today the bus won’t drive any further than Qalandia refugee camp. You’ll get off there, walk to the checkpoint, pass on foot and another bus from Jerusalem will meet you on the other side.” Listen to the protests of your fellow passengers. Hold onto your ticket.
Step 4:
Note that the bus is taking an alternative route. Re-emerge onto the main road at Qalandia from a side street, one direction of which is full of standstill traffic, and the other oddly empty of vehicles. Listen as your fellow passengers insist one last time that the bus drives all the way to the checkpoint.
Step 5:
Cross the road and weave through the traffic following the trail of your new friend from the bus. Note the peppery smell of tear gas residue in the air, and the handkercheifs held over the faces of the women in the oncoming bus.
Step 6:
See your goal, the checkpoint, appear ahead. Note the tanks and soldiers.
Soldiers on the Qalandia side of the checkpoint
Step 7:
Hear a bang. “It’s only rubber bullets,” your new friend will reassure you, “they can’t hurt you.” Hear a smash. Observe blocking the other, empty, side of the road, a group of lads with rocks. Hear another smash. Observe their adversary: soldiers on the rooftops. Hear another bang. Quicken pace. “Don’t run.”
Step 8:
Reach Qalandia checkpoint and note how uncharacteristically uncrowded it is. “Nobody wants to come today.” Get harassed by the usual small poor Checkpoint Kid aggressively selling sweets.
Step 9:
Pass through the turnstile into the scanning room, accompanied by the Checkpoint Kid. Fail to show visa. Get called back. Show the beer you were carrying in your rucksack to the soldiers, who are still sitting behind the glass.
Step 10:
Find yourself unable to leave the scanning area as the soldiers can’t release the next turnstile while the Checkpoint Kid is still in there. This will give you plenty of time to put your belt back on. Watch with mirth as they try to convince him in bad Arabic, still from behind the glass, to leave through the turnstile through which he entered.
Step 11:
Eventually pass through the final two turnstiles and wait for another bus among the tanks. Ride it to the Arab bus station in East Jerusalem. Hope you didn’t lose your ticket.
