When things get tense, head to Café de la Paix.

A friend and I decided to make our way to Jerusalem for a nice Friday of sightseeing and indulging in sushi and other consumerist comforts.
After getting ourselves sufficiently caffeinated, we left the dormitory around late-morning and caught a taxi from the city center to the checkpoint into the Holy City. The taxi driver dropped us [...]

Apostrophe to a young guard.

Who are you, madam soldier who sits behind the counter at the border terminal? You interrogate me about my travels, my motives, my friends. You’re relentlessly uptight.
But wait. You slip for a second and flirt with me, giggling coyly at my attempts to lighten our situation – the iron-fisted relationship that has been dictated to [...]

What does structural violence look like? The Allenby border crossing.

             The whole journey from Amman to Ramallah took about seven hours. To drive directly between the two cities, if imaginary lines dividing places and people didn’t exist, would take just over one hour. I started in the morning with three French backpackers that I had met the night before [...]