Ramallah is a Palestinian city of some importance, one might say it is the capital of Palestine. It is a newer city, did not exist during the Biblical or even later historical periods so it has no historic significance. On the other hand it abounds in evidence of what has transpired since 1948. One can see how a small Palestinian village began and the old homes are very present, although the city began to grow and now it is filled with high rise apartment buildings and new single family residences of some prominence. The problem is that Ramallah and the roads and hills leading up to it, have been criss-crossed with Jewish settlements, huge walls and limited access highways that make it hard, if not impossible for arabs to get in or out of the city.
Robert Frost wrote "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, ". He could not have known how on point that is today in the West Bank.
These walls separate Jewish settlements from the rest of the West Bank, preventing access to the Settlements by Arabs. If they were isolated villages or neighborhoods with a wall and gated access, they would not be much different from American gated communities. In the West Bank, these settlements are strategically located to deny access from one area of the West Bank to the other without having to go on long rough roads, not the efficient highways, going through check points, and in some cases, being completely denied access to land owned by Palestinians.
This road allows Palestinian access from one portion of the West Bank to another without having access to the better highways above ground that are available only to the Israelis. This particular tunnel goes under a main route from Ramallah to other urban centers.
Mohammed and I share a late lunch at one of his favorite cafes. Grilled Lamb shish ka bob, lamb livers, chicken and roasted tomatos and peppers served hot with salads and condiments including yogurt and garlic, tszaziki (?) hummus and others.
We also toured the Birzeit University, a fairly new Palestinian University of 9,000 students, predominantly women, with faculties in law, business, accounting, the arts, languages, sciences, computers and engineering.
I was fascinated to learn that all the classes are in English, largely because all the textbooks they use are in English.
The campus is built out with a lot of impressive new buildings.
Well, I am on to other things.
Richard
