Palestinians in the occupied West Bank know they shouldn’t ask what time their loved ones are going to make it home.
asserted
ones → occupy → it
What used to be a short ride from one place to another could now take hours, or it might not happen at all.
uncertain
it → use → hours
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asserted
3Israel → choke → pogroms
Before driving, Palestinians check dedicated WhatsApp and Telegram groups and channels where people share updates on road conditions.
asserted
people → drive → conditions
But this isn’t typical traffic news: Instead, chats focus on which Israeli military checkpoints are open, which roads are off limits to Palestinians and whether Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinians as they drive their vehicles.
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they → focus → vehicles
Sometimes pins are sent to warn people driving near towns where Israeli forces are conducting raids.
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forces → send → raids
The Palestinian radio station, based in Rawabi near Ramallah, carries three traffic updates per hour.
asserted
station → base → hour
The channel started broadcasting on October 2, 2023 – just days before the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 and the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and what has become a pogrom against Palestinians in the West Bank.
asserted
what → start → Bank
“Our idea was to target young people.
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idea → target → people
We wanted to offer entertainment and culture news.
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We → want → entertainment
But five days later, we realised we couldn’t,” said Fatima Barqawi, Basma FM’s news and traffic director.
asserted
Barqawi → realise → ?
The team had originally planned traffic updates as part of their programming.
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team → plan → programming
“We thought we could tell parents picking up their children from school to know where there was traffic, but after the war on Gaza started, we had to shift focus,” Barqawi said.
uncertain
Barqawi → think → focus
Her department has seven employees who verify information with their sources and provide updates on roadblocks.
asserted
who → have → roadblocks
“Things change each second.
asserted
Things → change → ?
We could say there’s a closed checkpoint and Israeli soldiers decide to reopen it.
uncertain
soldiers → say → it
Or vice versa,” Barqawi explained.
asserted
Barqawi → explain → ?
Dangers on the roads
The issue for Palestinians driving through the West Bank isn’t simply being late for appointments or held up for hours – it’s that there is an inherent danger to travelling in the occupied territory.
asserted
it → drive → territory
Palestinians in the West Bank drive white-plated vehicles, making them easily identifiable compared to the yellow-plated cars driven by Israeli settlers.
asserted
them → drive → settlers
Israeli soldiers have killed Palestinians near checkpoints after claiming they were conducting ramming attacks, and Israeli settlers often attack Palestinian cars or block them from using certain highways.
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settlers → kill → highways
These attacks are increasing as illegal Israeli settlements grow at a record pace.
asserted
settlements → increase → pace
It is hard to miss the large infrastructure projects Israel is implementing, expanding highways to connect Israeli settlements to one another and to Israel.
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Israel → miss → Israel
This ends up isolating Palestinian communities, often forcing Palestinians to use poorly paved roads or dangerous mountainous routes to avoid Israeli settlers and roadblocks.
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This → end → settlers
It’s a journey of fear and anxiety, a young Palestinian woman who did not wish to be named told Al Jazeera.
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who → ’ → Jazeera
“I used to blast my music and drive, now I’m on high alert.
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I → use → alert
The woman recounted how Israeli soldiers assaulted her fiancé near a checkpoint in Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, because they mistakenly thought he had passed without stopping.
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he → recount → Bank
A year later, she said, a soldier pointed his rifle at her.
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soldier → say → her
“He was shouting at me.
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He → shout → me
The sun was blocking my view, and I was careful crossing the checkpoint but that wasn’t enough.
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that → block → checkpoint
I saw the green beam [from the gun] and thought that was the end,” she said.
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she → see → gun
Attacks at checkpoints
Many Palestinians report being assaulted, humiliated and sometimes arrested at these checkpoints and roadblocks.
asserted
Palestinians → report → checkpoints
Israel has long imposed movement restrictions on Palestinians, controlling the road system and Palestinians’ access to the wider world.
asserted
Israel → impose → world
But since the war on Gaza began, these restrictions have intensified.
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restrictions → begin → Gaza
As of December 2025, the United Nations documented 925 barriers across the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, a 43 percent increase over the 20-year annual average of 647, the UN’s humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, reported.
asserted
agency → document → 647
Almost all of of the villages and cities in the West Bank have iron gates at their entrances, and Israeli forces close them arbitrarily.
asserted
forces → have → them
A new report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the restrictions are used to deliberately fragment Palestinian life, with roadblocks and military checkpoints cutting off people from their work, schools, hospitals and one another.
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roadblocks → say → work
The report, titled The Elimination Project, says there’s a broad rapid and systematic Israeli assault in the West Bank that aims to dismantle the foundations of Palestinian existence, and road closures are just one of them.
asserted
closures → title → them
That is why, as Heba Erkat prepared her notes before heading into the studio for Basma FM’s Wednesday afternoon bulletin, she knew the information about to be read out could change rapidly.
uncertain
information → prepare → bulletin
Her colleague read the news, and then Erkat started listing updates at 61 checkpoints across the West Bank.
asserted
Erkat → read → Bank
It was a relatively good day: only 12 of the checkpoints were either closed or had long queues.
asserted
12 → close → queues
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
