This weekend I went to Tel Aviv. With my Israeli visa, I am able to cross the checkpoints back from the West Bank, and make my way by bus to anywhere I want to go in Israel. To West Jerusalem (al-Quds), to the malls, to Yaffa old city or Nazareth. But I do so feeling a bit sad, and guilty. Because friends in the West Bank are unable to go to the sea, though they live less than 100 km from it.
So much of understanding the situation here in Israel-Palestine is knowing the rules that govern people's lives here, and how those rules create a society that is both separate and unequal. For Palestinians inside the West Bank, those who do not have foreign connections or jobs with an international organization, traveling to see the sea is a wistful dream. Only by obtaining difficult day permits are they able to pass through the checkpoints into Israel. Due to these restrictions on travel, many Palestinians have never seen the Mediterranean Sea.
For me, it makes me once again realize how lucky I am to be able to travel. How much a simply piece of documentation like an American passport gets me in this life. How privileged we are. I saw the sea yesterday, and I was thinking of my friends in Ramallah. Wishing they could see it too.
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2 comments:
thats the system .. .. ..
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