''Hey baby, what's a nice girl like you doing in Ramallah?'' You may ask.

On Friday, April 5, seven Israeli girls from good Jewish homes entered Ramallah. I was one of them. Our goal, simply stated, is to express objection to our government's war against the Palestinian civilian population currently taking place in Ramallah, as well as other cities in the West Bank, and to show solidarity with the Palestinians. It is currently illegal for Israelis to enter the Occupied Territories. Illegal, that is, unless you're a soldier. We know that the government does this to keep us Israelis from seeing what really goes on over there. That's the reason they also don't allow photographers in and shoot at them. But we were determined to see for ourselves. And we did.



We enter Ramallah by a combination of driving and walking. The whole process, while it only takes half an hour at most, makes us feel like outlaws on the run, like moving targets. Being Israeli, it's clear that we're facing danger from both whichever Palestinians would not happy with our presence in their neighbourhoods and see us as enemies and by the Israeli occupation forces that may capture and arrest us, plus whatever crossfire we may get caught in from either side. We can't be left alone for a minute. So we make arrangements for a Palestinian "tour guide". The first thing he asks of us is that if at any point after he leaves us we get caught, that we don't mention his name to the military. On the drive there we take a nice tour of every nearby refugee camp and the slum neighbourhood outside of Ramallah. The streets are empty and the stores are closed. Every once in a while we pass a car. The driver stops and talks with our driver, and based on that our driver knows where the tanks are placed and which route to take. We can't get caught because there's curfew and they can either shoot us or arrest us. At some e point we have to get out and walk in an open field. This is particularly dangerous because we're exposed. Every time we reach a crossroad, our guide instructs us to hide behind the nearby building while he goes to check if there are tanks or soldiers around the corner.