Every morning I drive my kids, aged 14 and 11, to school in Birzeit, just five minutes from our home in Ramallah. I watch them carefully as they enter the school’s gate, but I still worry about their safety and I silently ask God to protect them.
Then, on most mornings, I drive to work – a 15-minute drive usually, but with traffic it takes 30 minutes.
I love the atmosphere of Ramallah; it’s a culturally rich and international city. But it, alongside al-Bireh, is also surrounded by 156 military checkpoints.
I pass Birzeit University then wind through two small villages.
Sometimes Israeli soldiers block the road by al-Jalazone refugee camp that leads to Ramallah, so the traffic intensifies. Near the end of my drive, I pass by the Yasser Arafat Museum, crowned with the Palestinian flag like all official institutions.
Last April, I was settling into the office on a Wednesday morning after dropping my children off at school, a cup of coffee on my desk, when I heard a colleague scream….more
