The most moral army in the world has been very busy

“Soldiers place large boulders across all four lanes of the main entrance to A-Ram, a Palestinian town of 60,000, blocking incoming and outgoing traffic.”

this is surreal.

“This is collective punishment,” said A-Ram Mayor Sarhan Jasir Saleima. “It’s true, there were incidents. But how many people were there? No more than 20 to 30 little kids who see this as a game.

“If something like this would happen in Tel Aviv, would they close down the whole city? And why would there be army or police patrols around here anyway? Israelis don’t come here,” Saleima said.

A-Ram is on the main road leading to Ramallah, between the Kalandia checkpoint and the Dahyat el-Barid checkpoint. As such, the city is a major crossroad through which almost anyone trying to get to other cities in the West Bank must pass. Many of these travelers reach their destinations via shared taxis and other organized transportation originating in A-Ram.

Drivers at A-Ram Taxis say they can’t make a living if they can’t drive in or out of town.

“They haven’t told us when it’s going to end,” said Ahmed, a city resident. “I, and others like me, are standing at the junction. We don’t know if we should go to steal, go to work or just kill ourselves. We aren’t even dogs anymore.”