ISRAELI PEACE WALK

We were approaching Qalandiya checkpoint now. A long line of vehicles extended before us, waiting to be processed by the soldiers. Alongside us a row of vendors displayed their good on stalls improvised from blocks of concrete: boxes of glasses, crockery, socks, hijabs, beauty products, crates of fruit and vegetables, bags of peanuts, stationery, toys and a host of other items. Over the next hour we edged slowly forward. Zaza rootled around in the mounds of rubbish. We fed Loupio handfuls of carrots and bought coffee from a vendor wearing a fez and gold-embroidered baggy red trousers. An arrangement like a three-branched brass candelabra was strapped to his back with artificial flowers cascading from the tips, an incongruously touristy sight in the bleak and unlovely landscape. Clumps of barbed wire lay on the ground, decorated like Christmas trees with coloured scraps of plastic bags and other litter that had stuck to the barbs. Music blared from the car in front, joined by the shriek of a siren as an ambulance zoomed up to the head of the queue. The soldiers checked it and waved it through. A handcart piled high with mattresses followed. The coordinator of the West Bank taxis climbed into the driving seat of the caravan and shouted 'Jerusalem, anyone for Jerusalem.'
As we neared the soldiers we wondered what sort of obstacles were going to be put in front of us. Amit and Aude didn't have permission to pass through zone A. The Israelis in the group didn't have permission to be in zone A either. Being found there normally incurred a 1,000 shekel fine. As a Palestinian Arafat was not allowed to pass out of the West Bank without a permit.
Aude trained her video camera on an argument between a soldier and an old man who was being turned away. A soldier moved away from his colleagues and made for Loupio. He started stroking his neck and laughing. It was a good sign. Amit spoke with him while the soldier continued to canoodle with Loupio. An agreement seemed to be reached. Amit came back and told us that no one was allowed to go through the vehicle checkpoint on foot so we were all to get inside the caravan. We piled in and drove past the soldiers with Amit and Aude in the driving seat, the soldiers turning a blind eye to the passengers inside. No IDs were asked for.
'This is a moral victory,' said Ghers.
Arafat, having accomplished his part in the moral victory, said good-bye and turned back into the West Bank. The Middle Way people, apart from Shai and a man called Dany who were planning to stay with the caravan for the rest of the day, headed back to Israel.

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