More West Bank

November 14 , 2008

During this three-week stay in Ramallah, I took a day-long tour of surrounding
West Bank villages, Jewish settlements, and beautiful countryside northward from the
Qalandia Crossing from Jerusalem (where I met my guide,) past Palestinian villages and
red-roofed Jewish settlements on the way to the large Ariel settlement and the town of Huwara,
then eastward to Majdal, Aqraba, and besieged Ein Yanun and eventually to the Jordan Valley,
southward past Jericho before turning west to Jerusalem and back to Ramallah.

My guide was Gamilah-Yafit Biso, a Syrian-born Jewish Israeli who offers tours in English
to visitors and Israelis who want to see the consequences of
Israel's West Bank occupation as well as locations in Israel most tourists never see.
She also works with Humans Without Borders, which (among other things)
ferries Palestinian children from checkpoints to Israeli hospitals.

More about my impressions on my blog.