This week, while the kids are away, Avi and I visited Ramallah (my first time there). We parked at a checkpoint and were picked up by one of the ALLMEP staff. We then met a second ALLMEP staff person (both live in Ramallah - one is a Palestinian and one is a German national living in Ramallah working for ALLMEP). We had a delicious hummus breakfast, took a walking tour around downtown Ramallah, then had tea at a cafe.
After spending so much time here, I didn’t know how Ramallah would feel - would I feel out of place, uncomfortable, unsafe? Would people stare at us or be suspicious of us? No to all of those questions. It felt almost exactly like walking around areas of Jerusalem. Other than Arab signage, it felt just like many other places in Israel we’ve been. And people were friendly, spoke English, and made us feel welcome. The scariest part was just the checkpoints…not the place itself.
Palestinian Government
