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Inside Ramallah
By Wolf Blitzer
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Qusay Abu Al-Homos -- a middle class dress shop owner in Ramallah -- says he yearns only for a normal life for his family. But after one especially unpleasant recent confrontation with Israeli soldiers, he saw a shocking change in his six-year-old son. "I saw in his eyes he is suffering," Al-Homos tells me. "The next day I saw my son playing in his room with his cousin. And what did they play? They play the game of the suicide bomber. Even though we are not extremists, my family, I try to raise him as a peaceful man. But look what they did to him." Other Palestinians tell similar accounts of despair. They blame the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank that goes back to the 1967 War. There are Israeli military checkpoints around Ramallah -- as is the case indeed throughout the West Bank. The Israelis cite security concerns -- noting that Palestinian suicide bombers in the past have crossed into Jerusalem and other Israeli cities from the West Bank. But Palestinians, including Dr. George Imseih, a pediatrician, don't accept that explanation. He says the military presence is meant to oppress Palestinians, not protect Israelis. "There is no security points and checkpoints here. These points are humiliation and insulting to the population, the Palestinian population." He lives in Ramallah but works at a hospital in Jerusalem. That commute usually winds up taking 90 minutes or longer -- each way. Under normal circumstances, that drive would take only about 15 or 20 minutes. Kais Bakri, a Palestinian businessman, sees a much more sinister Israeli motive. "The whole point of the checkpoint is to make you want to leave the country," says Bakri. The Kalandia checkpoint, just outside of Ramallah, is normally a very busy place. The only route of passage into and out of Ramallah, many people pass through Kalandia on a daily basis. Security is rather tight, but by and large, people move through relatively smoothly. However, at a moment's notice, the checkpoint can be shut down, halting all traffic and sealing off the West Bank from Jerusalem. That kind of sudden immobility is a fact of life here in the Middle East. Beyond the checkpoints, inside Ramallah, is a bustling and diverse Palestinian community -- the traditional mixing with the modern -- both Muslims and Christians. Sonia Jeetan is a lawyer in Ramallah who says she has become physically and emotionally drained by the Israeli military occupation, though she insists it's also -- in some inexplicable way -- making the Palestinians stronger. "I feel tried of our suffering but in the end I know that this will have to end up in something good for us," Jeetan tells me. "I can't believe we would suffer all of this and in the end we wouldn't get anything out of it." The question for Palestinians and Israelis alike: just when does that happen?
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