As governments have historically done with \\\"frontier\\\", or ambiguously claimed territory, the Israeli state it appears, hopes that the mere physical presence of its citizens and the accompanied infrastructure will increase the legitimacy of their claims upon the land.
 
In this essay I hope to illustrate how the vast infrastructure laid across the Palestinian landscape restricts and prevents travel. I will use an example of a trip in which myself and four other internationals from Boston made last week. It involves a roundtrip journey from Jayyous, in the Qalqilya district (along the \\\"green line\\\") to Nablus, in the center of West Bank. Even though the distance was short (perhaps only 25 miles or so), such a distance in an occupied land is a difficult journey.
 
The trip to Nablus used to take about 25 minutes by car. It is now recommended to allow at least 4 hours. The good roads (well-paved highways) that go directly to Nablus are now to be only used by Israeli civilians. A few Palestinians are allowed to travel them with special permission but only within checkpoint zones (which occur every 5 or so miles). The checkpoints prove difficult to navigate for most Palestinians and they avoid them as much as possible. For it is common that people (especially men between the ages of 15 of 50) to be detained for many hours. Thus alternative routes have been created to avoid checkpoints and the experience of humiliation and abuse by the Israeli military.
 
We left Jayyous in a \\\"service\\\", a mini-van taxi cab, shortly after noon. The driver recommended that we seek to enter Nablus through a small village named Jet (pronounced jeet). Nablus, as we had been told the evening before, was closed and that travel through the main check point of Hawwara would be impossible. So we accepted the recommendation of the driver and headed toward Jet. The first half of the distance to Nablus went very quick (perhaps 20 minutes or so). We then came across a temporary check point. A temporary check point is where soldiers create a barrier at a random intersection and force all travelers (except those who are Jewish Israeli) to show papers and be interrogated regarding the nature of one’s travel (how, where, and why one is traveling). If the soldiers are not convinced of one’s explanations, one will be turned back or detained for further investigation. Being that the International Solidarity Movement has been the target of a smear campaign attempting to link it to terrorism and whereby the Israeli government has tried to deport its members, such an explanation would not be advisable. This temporary check point took us by surprise and our group had not had the time to come up with a story. Thus, we would have to make something up on the spot. So Michael D. and myself jumped out of the vehicle and approached the soldiers. They were surprised to see Americans traveling on this particular road and in a Palestinian Taxi. We explained to them that we were tourists visiting a friend in the area. Though they were suspicious of this explanation, Michael had mentioned that we would later travel to the Israeli city of Haifa, the home of one of the soldiers on guard. This loosened them up as they spoke of the city and provided us with directions when we arrive in this non-destination of ours. They also warned us to be careful of all the terrorists lurking about the hills.

A couple of minutes later we arrived in the very small village of Jet. We were directed to walk over a road block (made out of debris and rocks) and follow the dirt road to a paved one about a half mile away. We were accompanied by a number of Palestinian men and women who were also traveling to and from the Nablus area. We came to the paved road and it began to immediately climb steeply up a hill. About 100 yards later we came across a few soldiers lounging out under an olive tree. Upon seeing us approach, they jumped up and met us in the road. We informed them that we were child psychologists on our way to a Nablus hospital. Surprising they believed our ridiculous story and allowed us to continue.

At the top of the hill we found another Service taxi. The taxi had been unloading a group of women and children who were attending a wedding. Upon the children seeing us \\\"outsiders\\\" they sadly began to cry and scream. Apparently the children believed that we were Israeli settlers and feared us. When the children were out of the Taxi, we asked the driver if he would be able to take us to Nablus. His response was that it was unlikely - that the military has been patrolling all the roads in the area and that it would be dangerous for him. He would, however, be able to drive us to another village which we can then walk to Nablus (about 4 miles over a mountain). Believing that this was likely our best option, we agreed. A few minutes later we picked up a group university women also traveling to Nablus. With the van packed with people wanting to go to Nablus, the driver said that he would do his best to get us there. So every few meters, whenever another car would pass or if he saw someone sitting outside their house, he would inquire if they had any information about the Israeli military patrolling the hillsides. He was able to learn of a passage which appeared to be safe. The \\\"road\\\" we would take was basically two barely visible tire tracks through barren hills. Even on this road, in the middle of nowhere, the van would have to navigate over large former road blocks. It was very difficult travel on this road as the bumps, rocks, and potholes threw us from side to side in the van for about 30 minutes. When we finally reached a smooth dirt road and relief was expected, everyone in the van spontaneously applauded. Shortly later we entered the Nablus suburbs and then later into the city. Nablus is (or perhaps more correctly, \\\"was\\\") a beautiful city nestled between mountains with large white buildings. Traveling through the city now has its own hazards. Traffic lights no longer work and destruction to the roads caused by the weight of tanks (as well as the destruction of buildings blown up and falling into the streets) creates a tricky driving experience. In the end we were able to reach our destination in about 3 hours (a length of time which we considered to be relatively fast). 
 
The next morning we attended a non-violent protest that was organized by Palestinian villagers east of Nablus. The goal of their protest was to bring attention to the recent building of a large ditch which runs from an Israeli settlement down into the Palestinian village’s farm land. The ditch carries raw sewage from the settlement directly through the Palestinians lands and the smell emanating from it is unbelievably foul. 
 
In the afternoon we attempted to return to Nablus and spend the evening there. However, this was going to be very difficult as the Israeli military had created a \\\"closed military zone\\\" over all of Nablus and the surrounding areas and that they were preventing all movement past check points and road blocks for the indefinitely future. After having no success of passing various checkpoints (even with the child psychologist story and traveling with a real, live psychologist) we went back to the village of Salem. At this point we were traveling with about 5 other internationals who were attempting to get to Tulkarem, a Palestinian city nearby the village of Jayyous. Though some in the group advocated sneaking through the fields past the checkpoint, we decided against this action as we learned that soldiers had been shooting at others who had similarly attempted this strategy. We later met a couple of taxi cab drivers who told us that they knew of a route which by-passed the check points. The trick however was timing the trip just right as to avoid the roaming military vehicles in the area. Our traveling group (which now numbered 11) crammed into the two very small cars (a fiat and an old Toyota) and began heading out of town on bumpy dirt roads. The drivers were clearly nervous about the roaming soldiers and constantly searched the landscape for them. The driver would constantly start and then stop, look around, cautiously continue, then at a moments notice, floor the gas pedal and take off at extremely high speeds trying to get a \\\"pass\\\". All three attempts at this failed. As we approached the pass, we would encounter other taxi’s driving just as ferociously from the opposite direction. In what was reminiscent of an action movie, the other taxis would literally fly over the hill toward us and scream at us out their windows that the military was close behind. Our drivers would then make u-turns at far too fast a speed in the loose sandy road and start hurling back to town. The military, it seemed, was not going to allow people escape today.

So we gave up with the plan and took our chances at yet another checkpoint. This time, with some negotiation, we were able to convince the soldiers to allow us to pass to a road which leads to the east. The road wouldn’t go back to Nablus, but it might get us back to Jayyous somehow. 

 On the other side of the checkpoint we came across a Service which told us that he could take us to Tulkarem and then to Jayyous. The journey, however, would be long in that the entire region was shut down and the only means of getting there would be traveling north east (the opposite direction from our destination) over large mountains on really poor dirt roads. Being that this appeared our only option, we took it. The views from the road were quite stunning as the large mountains and valleys were dotted with distant small villages in the distance. The road was very dangerous. At times we would be heading down extremely steep mountains on the edge of cliffs. The road usually consisted of loose sand and was filled with potholes, rocks, and the like which threw the van from side to side. The van also had to navigate the unbelievable fact that medium sized trucks were also traveling the route. At times we had to all get out of the van and walk across the mounds of debris of former roadblocks so that the van could get over without bottoming out. But the evening was pleasant and a full moon was rising over the hills. The speakers of the van’s radio were distorted and crackling from being played too loud in the past, and the songs which were being played from some distant station, such as \\\"America\\\" by Simon and Garfunkel, created a quite surreal feel. 

After about an hour and a half we arrived in the village of Al-Agrabaniya.We stopped in the village for some drinks and were immediately surrounded by curious villagers surprised to see foreigners in this isolated area. We continued on our way and then stopped again in Al-Bedhan for Falefel sandwiches and a short break. Again the villagers surrounded us and offered the predictable Palestinian hospitality: we were invited for tea, dinner, and even offered a place to stay for the night. We graciously declined and continued on. At this point, the darkness was settling in and we still had much distance to cover. By the time we entered Tulkarem, 5 hours had lapsed. 

The Tulkarem group was let out and we made our way to the checkpoint separating the city to the roads leading south toward Jayyous. The driver began to slow down and opened the curtains and turned on the inside lights. He explained to us that Israeli soldiers were now watching us and that it is best that they be able to see inside the van. The van stopped in the middle of nowhere and in near blackness. The driver pointed in the distance to show us the cab he had arranged for our last leg of the journey. One could see a taxi on a hill a distance away with its fog lights on. Our driver wished us good luck and warned us to walk down the road very slowly. As we made our way down the road we began noticing Israeli soldiers in fortified positions hidden in the brush on both sides of the road. Then a voice screamed at us to halt and ordered us to come, one by one, toward them. They searched our bags and allowed us to continue on to the taxi waiting for us. 20 minutes later we arrived in Jayyous. The journey back from Nablus, which is only some 25 miles way, took 6 hours. 

 This is typical of how the military occupation restricts and slows down movement. Beyond the restriction of movement, there is the very real concern that one will be detained or harassed by soldiers at checkpoints. One constantly witness and hears stories of Palestinians having to wait many hours to cross. Sometimes they are forced to dance for the soldiers’ amusement, sometimes their papers are thrown into the mud, and usually they are yelled at and ordered around as they were children. 

The immense transportation, consumption, and production infrastructure that Israel has created in the West bank which connects the settlements to each other and to Israel proper, closely resembles the apartheid system: there are two different means of travel for two different people. Those who are Israeli travel quickly on good roads; those who are Palestinians travel slowly and on very bad roads. Currently there are currently some 120 permanent Israeli checkpoints and hundreds of road blocks in the Occupied Palestinian territories. In a place about the size of Massachusetts, over 300 separate areas have been created. These areas are basically islands cut off from each other making travel from one place to another extremely difficult. 

Such is the experience of travel in an occupied land