Crossing into Palestine

by Mateja Crnčević (Serbia)

A leap into the unknown Palestine

It's November of 2019 and after few days in Jerusalem, I made a decisions to visit nearby country in limbo, the Palestine. I had to go to Arab bus station in Jerusalem and get informed there how to get to the nearby city of Bethlehem. After asking few people at the station I've found the right bus, and as I entered I realized I'm the only foreigner inside. That was already confusing and I already started questioning where will I go and how it will turn out. At one point bus departed and I knew there is no way back. After about 10 minutes of driving as we were leaving Jerusalem things already started to look strange. Suddenly road we were driving on was surrounded by walls of height over 5 meters. As I went further into the unknown I already started to see barbed wires all around, military vehicles and some strange road signs. Suddenly bus stoped at the checkpoint (crossing). After about 30 seconds a woman around age of 20 with makeup and blonde hair enters the bus. But in addition to her makeup and well groomed hair she also had army uniform and big automatic rifle. Just after her a guy of similar age entered, also armed with same weapons. They were asking everyone in the bus to show their documents. They didn't pay much attention to me, but a few persons from the bus had to get out for additional inspection. After few minutes of waiting we continued our trip further. I saw a road sign that says in 3 languages (Hebrew, Arabic and English) that beyond that point is Palestinian control and that is illegal for citizens of Israel to cross there. Suddenly bus took a few turns, went on few different roundabouts and entered inhabited area. I still didn't fully understand what happened and where I am, but I couldn't see any signs on Hebrew language anymore, they all became Arabic. I also noticed different car registration plates, much older cars, different architecture, much worse roads and as soon as I saw a building of "Bank od Palestine" I was sure I entered a new country. After 10 minutes of driving trough the city we arrived at the bus stop. As I got out, I was walking in this new area, completely confused I got to the first intersection and suddenly a car loudly slides sideways from one street to another leaving a smoke from tires. I continued forward like nothing happened even though I was in total shock. Suddenly a man in his 50's standing next to parked car on the street asks me something in arabic. I responded that I didn't understand , and then he asked me in English if I need a taxi. I responded that I don't, but He didn't give up. He started this aggressive selling technique how he will show me graffiti on the walls and how He will make price lower specially for me. I realized he is very motivated to sell taxi services because he lives closed inside this walls and probably has no other sources of income. This one sided negotiation lasted a few more minutes and I continued by foot. As I got few hundred meters further I saw a car passing by with same person and same offer. He even continued to follow me in his car! I somehow got rid of him and in the distance I could see the walls, this time from the inside. I got closer and I saw this big collection of protesting graffiti and messages. At one point I wasn't sure If I'll be able to get back to Jerusalem how trapped and weird that all felt. I continued my walk further into the city and I saw a "Ministry of Interior - State of Palestine". I pulled out my phone to take a picture but I gave up on that idea because someone could get it wrong and suspect that I came for spying. After an hour of walking around I thought that I saw more than enough, and I decided to go back to Jerusalem. Getting back was easy and fortunately everything ended safely.