We woke at 4 a.m. to begin the journey from Amman back to Ramallah.
We took a cab to the Allenby Bridge (King Hussein) Crossing, where Linda was separated from us to go with the rest of the Palestinians who are segregated from the rest of the foreigners crossing the border.
After paying the Jordanian exit tax and getting an exit visa, we sat in the waiting area where we waited for the bus that would take us to the crossing.
We waited and waited. We were attacked by tiny flies that had invaded the waiting area. Meanwhile the day grew hotter.
Our plan was to cross the border and take a bus to Jericho where we'd meet up with Linda's friend, Rami, and wait there for her.
Things weren't looking good though. The Jordanian officer at the entry gate told Linda to go with us and just show her British passport. Linda didn't think that would work and when we finally got to the passport window, that's when the officer there sent Linda packing over to the Palestinian area. It wasn't his fault. He said that the Jordanians would let here through, but as soon as she showed up on the Israeli side, they would send her back.
Finally our bus arrived and we took the short trip to the border crossing. When you arrive at checkpoint on the Israeli side, everyone gets off the bus and lines up for passports checks. If you have no stamps in your passport (as we did), the officer looks at you suspiciously.
"Do you have another passport?"
"No," I said.
"Why no stamps?"
"The stamps we received were on separate pieces of paper."
He flipped back through each page of my passport again looking for stamps that were not there.
He didn't seem content with the fact that there were no stamps in my passport, but handed it back and told me to have a nice day.
That was just the checkpoint. When you get to the arrival gate, you hand your passport over with your baggage. Your baggage goes on a conveyor belt to be x-rayed and checked for bombs. After they check your passports, you go through a metal detector and any bags you're carrying go through an x-ray machine.
When we came through the metal detector, the officer on the other side asked what the purpose of our visit was.
"Tourism," I said.
"Are you aware of the situation here?" she asked, referring to ongoing rocket attacks by Hezbollah in northern Israel.
"Yes, we are aware," I told her.
"You are brave tourists I think," she said.
I smiled at her. Maybe we were. Or maybe we were just foolish. Either way, we needed to go to Israel.
If you were a Palestinian, you went into this large detector device that blasted you with air while sensors looked for trace residue of bomb-making material.
If you were American, they ushered you past the ominous device and on to Passport Control where you fill out paperwork and get your visa.
If you're Palestinian you go to one area. All other nationalities go to other booths.
"Where are you going?" the officer at the booth asked.
"Jerusalem."
"Where will you be staying?"
"With a friend."
"What's the friend's name?"
"Um, we only know her first name," Kacey said then explained how we'd never met her but had been given her name by Rabbi David Zaslow who we knew in the States.
"Are you Jewish?" she asked.
"No."
She stamped our passports and sent us on our way to go pickup our baggage.
If you're Palestinian, you wait in one area why they manually search your bags.
All other nationalities went directly to the conveyor belts to pickup luggage.
Outside, we caught a bus to Jericho where we met up with Rami and waited for Linda.
She wasn't far behind us, but only because the Jordanians had moved her quickly through the processing on their side of the border because they knew she was traveling with us.
We saw some the sites in Jericho, but tired quickly from the heat. Most everything was closed too. On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Forces invaded Nablus. Nine Palestinans were killed during the invasion, one of whom was a from Jericho. The shops were closed in memory of him and in protest of his killing. Every once in a while we were passed by a truck full of young men waving posters of the martyered young man and blaring music.
We began the long, hot drive from Jericho to Ramallah, which consists of miles and miles of nothing but barren hills. Every once in a while, we'd pass a small shack with a corrugated roof and walls made from abandoned automobile doors and hoods. Sometimes there were people herding goats and you'd wonder how they were all (man and goat alike) surviving amidst so much emptiness and heat.
We went through five checkpoints along the way. Apparently the sun had cooked any interest out of the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints. We handed them all four of our American passports, which they'd just leaf through then hand back and send us on our way.
We arrived in the evening at the City Palace Inn Hotel in Ramallah, which is where we are now hanging out and arranging for a place to stay in Jerusalem. Linda is translating the last few interviews from Arabic to English.
We're leaving for Jerusalem today and Linda is heading back to Nablus. Nablus has been closed for the past few days, following the invasion of Nablus on Wednesday.
