Crossing into Ramallah

To get to Ramallah from Jerusalem (see map), you need to take a bus from the Nablus Rd Station to Kalandia check point. At the checkpoint you disembark from the bus and cross by foot through a narrow corridor surrounded by the 18 foot separation fence, cement blockades and copious barb wire. When I followed this routine I was greeted by an intense malieu of organised chaos. As soon as the bus door opened and everyone filed out of it, an almost hysterical crowd gathered outside literally stampeded towards the now vacant bus. It was as though I were invisible. I almost got trampeled. It was a total, albeit brief, frenzy.

Once I passed through the narrow corridor in front of me was a rudimentary intersection with cars vying ambitiously for the tightest of spaces. Somehow I managed to catch a taxi throughtout all of this. Even more remarkably, the taxi driver managed to thread his way between buses, cars and people without as much as a scratch on the car.

Welcome to the frenetic West Bank.

Kalandia Check Point