A busy Saturday began with a walk through the streets of Bethlehem to take a bus bound for Jerusalem. This time we decided to walk through the border wall out of the West Bank to take the more direct bus, which we had successfully done the previous day on our return trip to Bethlehem (going into the West Bank).
This early morning walk once again took us by a portion of the wall, which is covered with a combination of murals and graffiti. These mostly express the general discontent of the Palestinian people with the current geopolitical arrangement, and include images of world leaders saying provocative things as well as silhouettes of children playing juxtaposed with creeping barbed wire.
The wall itself was constructed by the Israelis in 2000 after an eruption of violence and suicide bombings from the West Bank. They say it was built to curb this violence, while the Palestinians say it only segregates them. Both points are probably true, which only makes it more of a mess.
This rather gloomy atmosphere followed us to the pedestrian gate, which we found behind a cluster of ever present cab drivers waiting for people to cross over. The fact that we were heading across the wall out of the West Bank ourselves did not save us from their aggressive entreaties, and we politely refused to tell them our destination and declined all offers for drives to various West Bank cities no matter how good a deal they claimed to be.
Passing this obstacle, we found ourselves in an above ground concrete trench walking towards the gate. For pedestrians, this consists of a ratcheted turnstile that allows individuals to pass through the wall one at a time. We found this entrance seemingly locked, with the turnstile resisting any effort to push through. Several Palestinians were in front of us, and seemed to be waiting in vain for something to happen (as no Israeli was in sight on the other side to unlock the door). When several of these fellows started forcing their way through, we decided it was time to either take the other, more circuitous bus ride or try our luck walking through the vehicle entrance one block to the west.
This we did, and were relieved to find two Israeli soldiers inspecting the passing vehicles at this gate, who might shed some light on how we could get across. Mummy approached these guards, and was told that pedestrians should take the pedestrian entrance which we had found so troublesome. Nevertheless, we were spared having to backtrack (and pass through the taxi driver gauntlet again) as the guards permitted us to enter through the vehicle gate this one time.
Through this barrier, we quickly noticed the slow trickle of Palestinians entering through the pedestrian entrance and heading towards another building to be screened. Why the gate seemed to be locked (when it obviously wasn't meant to be) remains a mystery, and we all agreed that entering the West Bank was far easier than leaving it.
Going through an airport style X-ray machine and getting our passports examined by a guard in a booth cemented this notion, and it was with some relief that we boarded the bus bound for Jerusalem, to pick up a rental car for the day's planned activities.
-Theodore
Approaching the wall. Pictured is the vehicle entrance; that for pedestrians is one block to the left.
Murals and graffiti on the Palestinian side of the wall
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