The Round Trip

The Round Trip

Yuval Ben-Ami

My country once had internationally accepted borders, but that ended with the Six Day War in 1967. On that week in June we took bites from our neighbors’ territories: we bit the Golan Heights off from Syria, the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. Since then, the Golan and East Jerusalem were annexed to Israel, the Sinai was returned to Egypt, the West Bank is still being heavily settled by Israelis and the Gaza Strip settled and then vacated of its settlers. The degree to which we treat the various lines as proper borders varies from Israeli to Israeli. All in all we can’t say we know where our borders run, or what the hell is going on.

I believe that the only way to enjoy living in this slender, tiny, corral of a country, is to be a border enthusiast, which is what I’m planning to become for the next three weeks. “The Round Trip,” the third in my three-part travel-writing portrait of Israel/Palestine, will be a journey along the borders as they were charted in 1948.

All writing on this site is done voluntarily, so if any of you would like to pitch in directly for my travel expenses, please click here or on the “donate” button at the top of this page to do so. I’m deeply grateful to those who already donated. Thank you so much! This project would be impossible if not for you.

 

The Round Trip The Round Trip The Round Trip
The Round Trip part 1: In a thorny labyrinth
April 6, 2012
The Round Trip part 2: Tiny bordersApril 7, 2012 The Round Trip part 3: Roots and branchesApril 8, 2012

The Round Trip The Round Trip The Round Trip
The Round Trip part 4: Turning the cornerApril 9, 2012 The Round Trip part 5: Nothing’s normalApril 10, 2012 The Round Trip part 6: I once was lostApril 11, 2012
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The Round Trip part 7: The beautiful and damnedApril 12, 2012 The Round Trip part 8: Forget-me-notsApril 13, 2012 The Round Trip part 9: Country livingApril 15, 2012
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The Round Trip part 10: TrappedApril 16, 2012 The Round Trip part 11: Good takeawaysApril 17, 2012 The Round Trip part 12: Too badApril 18, 2012
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The Round Trip part 13: Walking the lineApril 20, 2012 The Round Trip part 14: Planet hoppingApril 21, 2012 The Round Trip part 15: Eternally confusedApril 22, 2012
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The Round Trip part 16: Fresh waterApril 22, 2012 The Round Trip part 17: ImpenetrableApril 23, 2012 The Round Trip part 18: Details, detailsApril 25, 2012
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The Round Trip part 19: Mr. KalaboushApril 26, 2012 The Round Trip part 20: Western SaharaApril 27, 2012 The Round Trip part 21: Strip teaseApril 29, 2012
The Round Trip
The Round Trip part 22: NightApril 30, 2012