I awoke on Monday morning at 6 am to get ready for my flight to NY and then Israel, only to find alerts from Delta that my flight to NY had been canceled due to flight staffing problems. They ‘conveniently’ rescheduled me for the next day. Since I had a full day planned in Ramallah for Tuesday and a hotel reservation that couldn’t be adjusted, I was not happy. There was space on the 7:30 am flight to NY with a longer layover, but I didn’t think I could make that flight since I live 30 minutes from the airport and it was getting closer to 6:30 am. As I continued to search, I found a flight that I could make; however, it took me to Los Angeles and then to Israel. It also meant I would lose my good aisle seats in comfort and now be sitting in middle seats in coach. I didn’t care—there were two seats left on the plane, so I grabbed them. My travel took me an extra 6 hours; however, I arrived in Israel Monday afternoon to begin my journey. That is all that I cared about—getting here.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up early, took the high-speed train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (I highly recommend this), and met my first driver. I say my first driver because he was willing to take me to the checkpoint into Ramallah but was not willing to drive into Ramallah. As we talked about this, he shared that it was because getting out of Ramallah was so difficult. His exact quote was, “Even if you paid me $1,000, I wouldn’t do it.” I found it to be a powerful statement on the challenges of movement in the West Bank, even for Israelis. We got to the checkpoint, and I walked through two fences to get to the other side. This checkpoint was unmanned, and when I got to the other side, my Palestinian driver was waiting for me.

The Palestinian driver picked me up, and we began driving to the center of Ramallah. All of a sudden, we came to an area partially blocked with concrete. He had to slow down and carefully navigate it to get through. He shared that Israel put that in just to make it hard for them. He was angry about dealing with it and told me how this is another example of Israel making it hard on them for no reason. I could see his frustration, and it didn’t appear to serve any real purpose. There was a time when I might have thought that it was to slow down somebody trying to ram the checkpoint, but having been on the road from the checkpoint until this blocking of concrete, there was no straightaway to build up speed. I couldn’t find any reasonable rationale for it being there. As we continued our drive, he pointed out the massive amount of Israeli flags on the side of the road. I had seen them on my last visit as well. It’s clear they are designed to antagonize the people living there, telling them that they have no right to live there and that this was really Israel. He commented about there being no Palestinian flags there, and he cited it as yet another example of Israel attempting to make life hard and encourage them to leave the West Bank. I was quiet, listened, and didn’t respond. He dropped me off at the Millennium Hotel, an absolutely beautiful hotel in Ramallah. I sat on the steps waiting for my friend and colleague to meet me.

When I visited the West Bank in 2019, one of the people we met was in the telecom industry. He told us about the challenges of service and how it was limited, at that time, to only 3G technology. As I sat there waiting, I had 2 or 3 bars, but my service wasn’t working. It was an opportunity to understand the impact it has on those who live there.

My friend and colleague, Dr. Hadil Al-Masri, joined me, and we sat outside in the hotel café drinking Arabic (Turkish) coffee and talking. After catching up and finishing our coffee, we left for downtown Ramallah. She took me to a great lunch venue that used to be a house. We sat, ate, and talked about Ramallah, our shared work, and life. It was a wonderful restaurant with great food and a great atmosphere. The people and staff were warm and friendly. It felt like I could have been in Tel Aviv or Jaffa. We finished the meal with more Arabic coffee and began our walk around downtown Ramallah and the old part of Ramallah.

Most people I spoke with, both before and after my day in Ramallah, were shocked that I was spending the day in Ramallah and walking around without any security. I had tucked my Star of David (Magen David) inside my shirt and wore a long-sleeve t-shirt to cover my October 7th tattoos and looked like the prototypical American. People on the street were friendly, and Hadil ran into friends who stopped and talked to us. When they learned I didn’t speak Arabic, they switched to English. I met a variety of different people as we walked through Ramallah after lunch. Hadil showed me the bustling downtown, filled with shops, cafes, and restaurants. She took me through the market with the fresh fruits and vegetables that reminded me, in many ways, of Machane Yehuda and the Carmel Market, if the Carmel Market was open-air.

We stopped at a cultural center to see the exhibit there. It had some old examples of the culture from hundreds of years ago. I often think people get hung up on the word “Palestinian” and not the fact that these people have lived here for thousands of years. They never had their own state, but under the control of others, were allowed to live their lives as long as they didn’t cause trouble. Unfortunately, since 1948, the radicals have created trouble. The many wars, the first and second intifada, October 7th. Seeing these old artifacts made me hope for a time when everybody can live together. I don’t know when that will be. I can only hope that it is sooner rather than later.

As we continued to walk, we stopped by the Dar Zahran Heritage Buildings. These were three old houses that have been combined into a heritage museum about the history of the people who lived there. Zahran’s family lived in the middle house and he decided to turn it into this museum instead of selling it or living there. It was beautiful, and I looked forward to walking through. As we waited for him to open, I began reading some of the outside exhibits. The first one talked about how Ashkenazi Jews are not real Jews from the Levant. How DNA testing showed that all Ashkenazi Jews were really European converts who have no connection to the land at all. How Palestinians were actually 80% Semitic and the original Jews. It was quite shocking to not only see this displayed prominently but reported as fact, with supposed DNA evidence cited and researchers quoted. I chose to not let that bother me and instead learn about the house, the museum, and the history. We have seen so many lies in the past few years yet this one was a bit more absurd. Hadil’s friend Summer and her son Amed.

Zahran spent time talking with us about the history of the house and what it contained. As we walked from room to room, it was interesting to see the clothes, old cooking equipment, and pictures of people who lived in the house and the neighborhood from the 1850s on. Then we went into a room with boats and things shifted. These were replicas of the flotillas used as symbols of Israeli oppression. There was an entire exhibit about the recent flotilla led by Greta Thunburg that was completely performative, didn’t bring aid, and the stories told after they were returned home about how the people on the ship were having so much sex with each other that they ran out of condoms on the boats. The language was incindiary. It was designed to demonize Jews and Israel and provide no accountability for anything from the Palestinians.

It got worse. We entered another room where there were paintings by artists who had visited. They were inspired by “the worst event in human history’, Israel winning the 1948 war of independence. Only they didn’t call it either of those things. Instead it was willful destruction of Palestinian livelihood. Once again, no accountabiity. No reference to rejecting their own state because they Jews also got one. When they began to talk about the war in Gaza as being their inspiration it was the same. Everything was Israel’s fault. No accountability for the murder, rape, and kidnapping of Israelis by Hamas. No mention of hostages. Just Israel’s fault.

Zaharan asked us to use pins on maps to mark where we were from so I did that. He asked us to sign up for his email list, which I declined. He had no idea he was speaking to a Jew which is why he was so open with everything. When the tour finished, we said our goodbyes and left. I didn’t need to engage him in any sort of conversation or debate. I wasn’t going to change his mind and the last thing I wanted to do in Ramallah was draw attention to myself for disagreeing with their narrative.

I left with my two new Palestinian friends, Summer (a doctor serving in the PA Ministry of Health) and her son Amed (who graduated from college in Nablus with a financial engineering degree and is working at a bank). We stopped by a museum with a beautiful multilevel garden. The museum had closed early, so we walked and talked in the garden. They shared their challenges. They shared their thoughts and dreams. I shared my observations and concerns. We agreed that there are bad people everywhere and we can’t stereotype an entire people based on the fact that there are bad people among them. Amed talked about how he wanted to go to the beach. He’s never been able to walk on the sand or swim in the sea. He shared the challenges of driving from Nablus to Ramallah to visit his parents and how the 45-minute drive would often take over 2 hours because of checkpoints being closed, gates being closed, and being forced to drive out of the way to get there. It’s sort of like driving from Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia but having to go through Pittsburgh to get there. That’s their everyday reality.

I understand the need for security. I ran Jewish organizations for 25 years. We had security at all different levels. Some of this is really about security. The security fence stopped the suicide bombers. It worked. It’s needed. I wish it wasn’t. The checkpoints have stopped suicide bombers from getting into Israel. I hate them too, but they remain necessary. When I first encountered them personally in 2019, I wrote that I knew they were needed and looked forward to the day they are not needed. It’s 7 years later, and they are still needed. I still look forward to the day when they are not needed.

Some of what I have seen is not needed. The blocking of the road to make it difficult for drivers wasn’t about security. The gates are not about security. The terrorist settlers are not about security. They are there to make life worse for the people who live there. It makes me sad as that is not the Israel I want, nor is it the Israel I love.

After having another cup of Arabic coffee (my third of the day), we went to visit one of my favorite places in Ramallah, Rukab’s ice cream.

I was there in 2019, and it was the best ice cream I’ve ever eaten (and I went to Penn State and spent plenty of time at the Creamery on campus!). The choices are amazing, the flavors are delicious, the portions are huge, and the price is modest. Seeing the sign puts a smile on my face, and going inside to get some is fantastic. This time, I got Mixed Berry, Mango, and Pistachio. They melded together well, and we sat, continued to talk, and ate our ice cream.

After ice cream, it was time to go to dinner. It really was a day of eating! We went to a place called Zest, where Amed left us to get his hair cut and go to a birthday party. He reminded me of my kids, who are just a little bit older than him. I said goodbye and promised him that next time we would go to his favorite ice cream shop instead of mine. Zest was beautiful, with big windows and a great ambiance. Hadil rejoined us, and the three of us began more conversation as we ordered our food. We spent two hours eating and talking. The food was delicious. The company divine. The conversation deep and meaningful. It was a wonderful day spent with amazing people in Ramallah. When I say that, people look at me funny, especially those who have never been there, particularly people who have never met or spent time with Palestinian people and really gotten to know them.

My Palestinian driver picked me up from the restaurant and drove me to the checkpoint. It was dark outside, and people were making it hard for him to get around as he tried to get out of town, but as we drove towards the checkpoint, it was uneventful. The music he had on reminded me of Jewish High Holiday services. I didn’t comment, just listened. Until we got to the area where the road was blocked on purpose to make it difficult to get by. He had to almost stop completely in order to slowly maneuver around in the dark to not hit the concrete barriers put in the road just to make it difficult. As he finally got through it, he yelled at the top of his lungs, “F**K ISRAEL” and then followed with “F**K YAHOOD.” The first didn’t bother me as I understood his frustration with the government and what they are doing. In the US, we say it about our Presidents all the time. It was the second one that really bothered me: F**K JEWS. He didn’t know I was Jewish, and I wasn’t going to bring it up. The anger at all Jews because of the government policies and actions really hit me deep. It made me realize just how challenging it will be for many on both sides to trust enough to build peace. I found it very depressing. I didn’t comment, just sat there while he took me to the checkpoint, where I thanked him for driving me. As I walked to the checkpoint in the dark, climbed under the gate, and left Ramallah, it felt a little bit like a scene from Fauda. From the driver yelling only minutes ago to climbing under a checkpoint gate in the dark to get to my taxi on the Israeli side and drive away, it didn’t feel real.

It was a great day in Ramallah, and I look forward to visiting again. Later this trip, we are actually staying two nights at a hotel in Ramallah. It will be the second time I’ve done that in my life. I hope that I will get to see Summer and Ahmed again. I know I’ll see Hadil as we work together. I look forward to exploring more, meeting more people, and learning more. My day in Ramallah reminded me how important it is to meet people as people. To get to know them as people, not labels. It also reminded me that the behavior of a few can make it very hard for those impacted to be open to those types of interactions. I only hope that the more interactions we have with Palestinians and Jews, the more we can begin to build trust and find a way to work together for a better future for everybody.