Getting Around in the Holy Land

I made my first trip this year from the West Bank to Israel and this venture took me through the Qalandia Checkpoint, which I had managed to pass by last year (some of you may remember the video in which a soldier checked my papers while her gun was in my face- but she did so while everyone was still on the bus).

Here's how that went:
The bus stops on one side and everyone gets out. We walk inside the checkpoint, which is really not a building so much as a shaded encslosure consisting of a series of lanes and revolving gates, with lines of people at each one. There is an almost inaudible click of the gate and two or three people are let through. They put their things on the RAPISCAN conveyor belt, go through the metal detector, and show their papers to a soldier. Once they have left the checkpoint, the gate clicks and two or three more people push through before the gate locks again. Outside the bus is waiting. We all get on (not the same set who left the bus 30 minutes before) and continue to Jerusalem.

This is the manner in which as many as 6000 people per day pass through any one of the hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank.

About Vehicular Transportation:
Traveling in Ramallah, or between Ramallah and Birzeit, there is at least one moment in every day when I am sure the van I'm in is going to hit a person, dog, or another van.

Let me explain first about the vans. Public transport in the WB consists mostly of large yellow vans called serveece or simply Ford that take people along designated routes much like a bus would. There are designated starting and stopping points but people can get off or on anywhere they like, provided there is room in the van. The vans mostly travel between different cities and villages. This is the manner in which the majority of Palestinians get around.

The rules of the road are, shall we say, lax in Palestine. There more like suggestions, really. There are seldom lanes painted on the road but in most cases it is wide enough for three lanes. So what drivers do is drive on the outside in both directions, and the middle "lane" is used for passing by cars going both directions. This has led to come close calls. Every day, as I mentioned. The cars seem to play chicken with each other, but with them both knowing exactly when the other will move over.

And there are speed bumps all along the road, so the drivers move at breakneck speeds (sometimes heading straight at another van doing the same) and then break suddenly right before the speed bump. My first morning in Ramallah, I bought a coffee before getting on the van to go to school. My friend and host suggested I drink it quickly but I decided I'd rather save it and drink it slowly once I got to school. Trying to keep it from spilling required a symphony of intuition. Twice it did spray all over me and everyone else in the back row.

Vans and Pedestrians:
When there is a pedestrian in the path of a moving vehicle, the vehicle driver, instead of slowing down, simply honks at the pedestrian to alert him or her of the vans incoming path. The pedestrian then has two options:

• he or she can run out of the way
  
• he or she can plant their feet and stare down the driver
  

As I said, there have been many close calls. And I have been getting more bold about using the stare-down approach when crossing the street. Also I sometimes wait to cross with other people.

Getting From Ramallah to Rehovot:
Involved me getting on bus #18 in Ramallah, getting off and doing the previously mentioned checkpoint experience, getting back on, getting off at Damascus Gate, walking (with all my dirty laundry on my back) halfway around the wall of the Old City to catch an Israeli bus at Jaffa Gate. Got off that bus at the central bus station in Jerusalem and found the correct platform for the bus to Rehovot.

Note: public transit makes me hate Israelis.

Seriously, Israelis are so rude in public. Let's say there's a line and lots of people are waiting in it. If a new person arrives to the line and finds that there is an inch of space for them to jump the line, they will. No qualms. None. They will push a pregnant woman, and old lady with a cane, and a small child out of the way and then proudly elbow whoever else is at the front of the line so they can get on the bus first. They area always like this, whether it's planes, trains or automobiles. In fact, when I was getting off the plane in Tel Aviv 11 days ago, I was about to get off when a big guy pushed right past me (while looking me in the eye!) to get off first. For no reason. Just, he wanted to get off first. I thought to myself, "I must be in Israel."

One Final Note about the Vans:
The vans exist in Israel too, but in addition to other methods of public transport like large buses and trains. In Israel, these vans are called sherut, which means service. I don't know why Israelis use the Hebrew word for it but Palestinians use the English word. Whatev. The sherut also serves as the only public transport option operating on Saturdays, when everything government-owned shuts down.