Google Mapping Apartheid

Few things depict the absolute absurdity and injustice of Israeli apartheid policies better than maps. Google Maps offers us a unique tool with which to do this. Let's take a virtual drive through Apartheid.

In the interactive map below you will see a few pegs, two red and two blue. The two pegs at the north end of the map are the Palestinian city of Ramallah (Red) and the neighboring Israeli settlement of Psagot (Blue). As you can see, they are less than one kilometer apart. At the south end of the map is the Palestinian city of Bethlehem (Red) and the Israeli settlement of Har Homa (Blue). Again, the distance between these two areas is under one mile. 

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So let's say you want to travel from the locations in the north to the locations in the south. Logic would lead you to believe that given that the starting and ending points are so close to each other, you would likely take the same route and main roads. But how long it takes you, and the route you take, is determined entirely by whether you are an Israeli settler or Palestinian. Here is the same map below with some added details and labels.

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Please zoom in for additional detail. First, let me explain what the colors here are all about. The Red line (which starts at Ramallah in the north and merges further south with the orange line) is the route Palestinians would have to take to make the trip. Settlers, however, can follow the far more direct path highlighted in light blue. You will notice that there is also an orange line which heads north before coming south again. This is an alternative route Palestinians can take.

For settlers, the length of the trip is about 19 miles, almost directly south, through mostly well paved and constructed roads and highways.

For Palestinians, there are two options. The first, which is the red line, involves heading south first toward the Qalandia checkpoint, then east on the Jaba' road, before heading south again on the dangerous and winding road 437. At this point, your GPS might tell you to proceed through the logical route on road 60 but that's only because your GPS is not programmed to understand apartheid. As a Palestinian, you would have to go east continuing on 437 in the direction of Jericho. The reason for this are Israeli settlements, depicted here in darker blue shading, and Israel's segregation wall which is shown here in dark black. Once you have headed sufficiently east, so as to be be able to head south without entering into the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem, you could then head south on road 417, past the massive Israeli settlement of Maale Addumim.

Now you might notice this path runs through the Maale Addumim settlement and an area shaded in a lighter blue color. That lighter blue color is the area known as E-1, where the Israelis intend to build to create territorial contiguity between Maale Addumim and the municipality. As you pass this area, your GPS would probably be trying to hopelessly re-route you toward Road 1 so you can connect with Road 60 again and proceed through the more logical route. Instead, as a Palestinian, you'd have to continue southward through a very dangerous, hilly and winding road referred to as Wadi Nar (Valley of Fire) Road. This extremely dangerous passage goes through significant elevation, making driving through it tedious, costly and even life-threatening. Once you make it through that road you will approach your destination of Bethlehem from the East. After your 27 mile journey, much through the mountains, you can kick back and relax and enjoy the view above the apartheid wall of the Israeli settlement Har Homa where your privileged counterparts from Psagot surely arrived long ago.

That mess of a trip is the better of two options for Palestinians. The second option, depicted by the orange line, is far less direct and far longer. Since the first option involves using restricted roads (much more info on that here) you may not be able to take that route. Instead, you may have to go the longer way around. This involves first heading north from Ramallah through Al-Bireh toward Taibeh. Then southeast in the direction of Jericho until you reconnect with the road that will allow you to pass between Maale Addumim and E-1 and reach the Wadi Nar road. This route is 38 miles.

For those who wonder about the significance of the E-1 project, it will essentially mean that the Israeli controlled settlement territory will plunge into the West Bank from the Green Line all the way through Maale Addumim contiguously. This is an approximately 8 mile intrusion. If this were the case, and Israeli restrictions for Palestinians around their territory are applied as they are elsewhere (and we have no reason to believe they won't be) then the West Bank is effectively divided in two.

Some might look at the map and wonder how the West Bank can be divided in two if there is still another 10 or so miles to the border with Jordan. Well, have a close look at the map. Beyond this area, there is no east/west road infrastructure and the land is sparsely populated. The closest north/south road infrastructure is Road 90 in the Jordan Valley. Why? Because of a massive mountain ridge.

So what E-1 essentially means is that there will be no independent viable contiguity between the north and south of the West Bank. Or, in other words, no possibility of an independent viable Palestinian state.

Why should Palestinians be asked to move mountains to adjust for the contours of every Zionist whim and desire?

The truth is E-1 didn't kill the possibility of a two-state solution. Maale Addumim, founded in 1976, did. The size and location of Maale Addumim and settlements like it in the West Bank, like Ariel for example, made it impossible for Israeli leaders to imagine any agreement without territorial contiguity with them. In other words, for all practical purposes, the only thing they could imagine was a one-state outcome. Of course the one-state outcome they have in mind, one of perpetual occupation and apartheid, is not the type Palestinians or anyone who loves freedom and justice can accept.

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