April 30, 2001
Chapter one of the long, tedious car saga is drawing to a close.
As Elizabeth headed back to Zababdeh to teach, Marthame headed down to Jerusalem hoping that the car was still where we had left it (and half-hoping it had been stolen - an insurance claim might be easier at this point in time). The journey took three hours by backroads around checkpoints and closures, and the car was still there. It only took twenty minutes for it to start, and Marthame drove it to Ramallah to leave it with the mechanic to do final maintenance and sell it. Now, even though we don't have the money for it yet, the car is no longer our headache!
The former Palestinian police station in Ramallah, now bombed into ruins.
He then picked up a rental car (from one of the two companies that're insured for West Bank driving) and headed home. Along the way, he passed the rubble that once was the Palestinian police station in Ramallah. After the lynching of two Israeli soldiers in its prison, the place was leveled - and has remained so. In the Jordan Valley, it was the sight of Jericho's complete encirclement. All roads entering have been blockaded, and an anti-tank trench has been dug around the city.
Roadblocks and trenches surround Jericho.
The rest of the drive passed without incident, but as he got closer to the Jalame checkpoint, the sky took on a dark, creepy, orange glow. Then it began to rain - not water, but mud! The sky had filled with dust, as it did a week ago (something about Mondays), and the rain brought it down to earth - nothing like a good rain shower to get your car dirty.
Waiting at the Israeli checkpoint to enter the West Bank at Jalame.
Once he reached Jalame, though, there was a backlog of traffic as well as an escalated police presence. Apparently a shooting had happened a half hour previous to his arrival (not unlike Marthame's parents' first visit), and the checkpoint was closed - to everyone except Ganim and Kadim's settlers. Which begs the question: why was it closed? Chalk it up to the list of the mysteries of this land. Needless to say, the return trip passed without incident.