Israel and Palestine visit

The night before my friend Matt sent me the Canadian Embassy warning strongly discouraging travel to Israel and especially the west bank. This started to get me concerned.

Then my first day in Israel consisted of being bullied/grilled/interviewed by four seperate Israeli security agents, then going through two seperate Israeli Army checkpoints and then meeting my guide in Bethlehem who had been shot by the Israeli army last year.

This combined with warnings not to mention the west bank when leaving Israel and definetely not to mention the names of people met in the West Bank gave me a pretty serious case of fear and paranoia about Israeli Security. They had my email address and I did not want to post anything about Israel while I was in Israel.

My fear and paranoia was exaggerated by the particular path I took into Israel. I think if I had hung around in Tel Aviv a bit more and had not had so much coffee my first day - I would have been far more relaxed.

To mitigate the risk of visiting Israel, I thought I should sign up for a tour. Someone who knew the ropes of the country. My tour was excellent, and I did not experience any violence, but because it spent alot of time in the Palestian Territories I was concerned about more security interviews.

I learned a little more about the Palestinian situation there. The Palestinians are not treated very well and their cities and economy are being shut down by the Israelis. All of the Palestinians I met in the Occupied Territories where friendly and wanted more "Internationals" to come to their cities to help see what is going on. Based on some of the questions in the security interviews (why do you want to come here NOW...), I don't think Israel is welcoming to any international presence here.

By visiting, I became what I would call accidentally important.

As far as my personal security is concerned, I was safe. According to my guide, I needed only to worry if I got involved in any sort of checkpoint protest or if there was a suicide bomb which would then mean a retribution attack. The retribution is apparently an arrest of the entire family and a destruction of their homes. During my visit I saw a Palestinian home that had been destroyed for this reason.

Actually compared to everywhere else I was visited, for petty crime, I was safer. No one in Bethlehem or Beit Sahour was going to steal anything. Within Israel, I also felt very safe (petty crime wise) as well.

Ok. So more details on what is going on. Basically from what I can see is that the Palestinians are under seige. Their territories are encircled and being subdivided in several ways.

First, to get to Palestine you need to get through Israel. If you say you are going into the Palestinian Territories you will be hassled more at the airport. If you are Palestinian, you cannot get out of the occupied territitories and you need a special permit to use the airport. Most Palestinians have to cross to Jordan to fly out. All goods going in and out of Palestine must also go through Israel and are subject to Israeli taxes etc.

Second army checkpoints are put on roadways. The checkpoint are usually easy to drive into, but hard to get out. Israelies are not allowed (by Israel) to enter the Palestinian territories. Palestinans are not allowed to enter Israel unless they have permission (by Israel). I met Israelis in the Occupied Territories, who were mostly concerned about the consequences of spending the night there. To get out, you need to wait in line and show a passport or permission to exit. The impact of this is mostly a big hassle. Half the time we circumvented the checkpoints by going to roadblocks which are not controlled by the Israeli army. You cannot drive through though. You need to walk across and take a taxi from the other side. Apparently there are all sorts of other inconvenient ways to get in and out of the occupied territories.

Thrird, Israel is builing a huge huge wall to encircle the west bank cities.

Fourth, Israel is importing Romanian and other (Phillipine?) workers to eliminate it's dependency on the Palestinian workforce.

Fifth, settlements are being built which are encroaching on Palestinian towns. Wherever a settlement is built there needs to be Israeli security which then shuts down roads for security reasons. There are some really passionate settlers that believe that it is their duty as Jews to make Isreal a Jewish only state. These settlers will sometimes illegally occupy Palestinan homes inside the the zones and will then get support from the Army. Right now, the settlers are threatening violence against the Israeli police if they have to withdraw from Gaza. From a side-street in Hebron, I saw a settler with his shopping from walking - striding really - down a road protected by chain link fences. I was surprised that he was alone and just glared at us as he walked by. Shortly though, about eight soldiers walked by behind him. One soldier with his rifle held to keep aim down our street as they walked by. The soldiers were then followed by a military vehicle.

Sixth, to link settlements, settler only roads are built which in somecases bisect the Palestinian cities. Palestinians cannot drive across them. These roads are protected by two levels of alarmed and electrified fences as well as Army patrols.

From the Israeli side of things, I think there is a range of opinions. At one end are those who believe in a pure Jewish state. At the other end, there are those who want to have a peaceful co-existence with the Palestinians.