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Journal : West
Bank Maps|
February 23, 2002 West Bank Maps [West Bank, Palestine] Here are two maps of the West Bank. You may have seen the one on the left. It show a nice, clean, well-defined and contiguous West Bank. It looks like a nice place for Palestinians to live. Wouldn't that be great? But the map on the left is terrible. It's terrible because it is horribly incomplete. The map on the right adds just a bit of detail. The red dots indicate locations for Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. Communities built on illegally confiscated land. Land that belonged to the Palestinians. Settlements that the United Nations says are illegal. And settlements that are being built right now.
However, the map on the right is still inaccurate. It is inaccurate because it leaves so much out. It leaves out all the military posts in the West Bank. There are hundreds. It leaves out all the checkpoints that riddle the West Bank. It also leaves out the network of roads that connect the settlements -- roads that Palestinians are not allowed to use. Can you see how difficult it would be to travel to other areas of the West Bank if you were Palestinian? First, you may not make it out of your own community since there are almost 300 checkpoints. If you do make it out of your town, you've got to do a lot of crazy maneuvering. You can't travel on a direct path because that road is only available to the Israeli settlers living there. That's why you have to go through fields and over dirt paths. That's why a trip that should take a half hour takes all day. That's why you can't hold a job in another community. That's why you can't visit family in a nearby community. That's why you can't make it to hospitals in time. That's why you can't just go for a scenic drive. To get from one place to another you may have to drive, walk a mile, take a new vehicle, get out, walk another mile, take another vehicle, etc. It's really crazy and incredibly frustrating -- and it's normal life in Palestine. (To borrow a line from an old 80's tune -- "Tonight thank God it's them, instead of you.") |
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