THE ROAD

In order to drive a vehicle, one must have a license. In the case of Israel and the West Bank the plates are either yellow (Israeli) or green and white (Palestinian). We had a yellow license plate that enabled us to use the super highways built for the Israeli settlers. Our travel would have been severely curtailed if we had had to go through the numerous checkpoints.

There are more than 60 Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, along with hundreds of other roadblocks and barriers to Palestinian movement.

As we drove, our guide would periodically announce that we were at that moment traveling over the remains of a particular Palestinian city or village. There were many.

We also passed many living Palestinian towns and cities as well as active Israeli settlements constructed illegally on occupied Palestinian lands. The settlements had signs announcing the name of the settlement. Palestinian towns were often not granted a sign, but we could see them and our guide knew the names.