Why West Bank Palestinians Avoid Traveling At Night

[Purveyor]

Something so basic, so normal, so human — like going home late from work, visiting family or a loved one in another town — becomes an overwhelming and frightful task in the face of the occupation.

By Mya Guarnieri |Published September 11, 2013

Last night, when I was headed from Ramallah to Bethlehem, I went through a checkpoint. As the service taxi I was on slowed down and approached the checkpoint, I saw an unusually large number of soldiers. There were two armored jeeps and a police car. I counted more than 10 soldiers. They were searching a small car. A man, presumably the driver, was on the ground on the side of the road, handcuffed and blindfolded.
The scene was disturbing to say the least. A ripple of fear ran through the passengers on the service taxi, even though the soldiers didn’t stop us. Everyone craned their heads to see what was happening. Once the man was out of sight, passengers continued to shift in their seats and speculate about what was happening.

The image of a human being, bound and left on the ground, stayed with me all night. When I woke up this morning, I wondered about the man. What happened to him? Was he detained? How will he feel driving at night in the future?

A lot of Palestinians I know don’t travel between West Bank cities at night. For one, public transportation shuts down fairly early in the West Bank. Secondly, the army seems to be more active at night than it is during the day (although, the daytime is difficult in other ways – as I wrote about here) and this creates an environment of fear that is especially pinned to the night.

MORE...

http://972mag.com/why-west-bank-palestinians-avoid-traveling-at-night/78741/

[oberliner]

1. Isn't the author a reporter?

Why not do some reporting and find out who the man was and why he was handcuffed rather than speculating about it?

[azurnoir]

2. Mya Guarnieri is a Journalist and was a 'stringer' The National and Al Jazeera English

but your right thee word reporter isn't used, makes all the difference I'm sure or conversely as I read earlier today"This place is insane"

Mya Guarnieri is a Jerusalem-based journalist and writer whose work has appeared in dozens of publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Slate, Counter Punch, The Boston Review, and Caravan. She was a stringer for The National and Al Jazeera English and has been invited to serve as a commentator on Israel/Palestine on the BBC and Al Jazeera, among others

http://972mag.com/why-west-bank-palestinians-avoid-traveling-at-night/78741/