The Situation in Nablus is…

While planning one’s first trip to the West Bank, it is hard to get a firm idea of what to expect. Recent published accounts by travelers refused entry and sent back also add to the unease of any person wanting to visit. Traveling to here can take on a strange and sometimes frightening form even after the plane has landed in Ben Gurion airport. Most westerners who want to volunteer or even visit the West Bank are often advised by experienced travelers to lie to customs officers and tell them that they simply want to visit the Holy Land. Any travelers in the West Bank who had planned to come before their departure will often share their stories of how they made sure to highlight their tenuous Christian links or beliefs or how they made sure not to pack any “political’ books and wiped their laptops of any mention of Palestinians. I personally spent 5 hours in the waiting room at customs and was even threatened with jail time by an Israeli security official if I didn’t cooperate. This sort of situation is enough to make any person’s imagination and level of paranoia reach new heights.

The truth is, everyone who can visit should visit Palestine. Not everyone can: if you are from a muslim or arab background and are not ‘westernised’ or affluent looking enough for the border agent’s taste, you probably will be turned back. If you are a Palestinian with a foreign passport, your chances of entry will be dictated by many factors often out of your control. Israel reserves the right to deny anyone access to the country and does not need to provide justification. When it comes to entering the West Bank itself, individuals with Israeli passports (either Arabs or Jews) are not allowed to enter areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control (known as Zone A). This creates a surreal world with different types of restrictions of access based on ethnic origins. The absurdity that foreigners are the ones with the most freedom of movement across all the areas and zones and lines is one that is not lost on many.

The last email I received from my contact in Palestine began with: “The situation in Nablus now is very calm and life is as usual.” This person was right. Once one finally gets here, Nablus seems peaceful and life looks quite normal. This is a far cry from what the average western traveler with no personal experience visiting might expect. Here are some scenes of lovely Nablus from the past week: