Staring at the inaccessible West Bank fence!

The West Bank is closed.

Not only for motor vehicles, but even for pedestrians.

Not even kids can go past the chain-linked fence that has closed the West Bank from the rest.

Ok, I am not talking about the banks of the Jordan River, but of the Willamette River that runs close by home.

The bike path on the west side of the river is closed for maintenance work.


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Meanwhile, what is happening at the "real" West Bank?

For one, there are some unhappy elements--unhappy over the forced evacuation from illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank:

The entrance door to a century-old monastery near Jerusalem was burned away and anti-Christian graffiti was sprayed on the walls Tuesday, in what Israeli police said appeared to be a nationalistic attack.

The phrase "Jesus is a monkey" was painted on the walls of Latrun Monastery in large orange letters, as well as the words "Migron" and "Maoz Esther," referring to two illegal Israeli settler outposts in the West Bank.

To say that emotions are running high will be an understatement--perhaps always the case in this geographic setting:

In both Israel and the West Bank on Tuesday, people reportedly suffering from economic and emotional distress tried to set themselves on fire.
In Kfar Saba, a man doused himself with flammable liquid and tried to set himself ablaze at a local branch of the National Insurance Institute, before he was stopped by a police officer on the scene.
According to Sharon subdistrict police, the Rishon Lezion native was treated at the scene and has been referred to social services for further treatment.
Earlier on Tuesday, a Palestinian man in the Arab village of Dura near Hebron poured gasoline over his body and threatened to set himself on fire at a local municipality building but was stopped by security officers, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.

With the "local" west bank, the work will be completed in a few weeks, and once again we will be able to walk, run, bike there.  The one in the Middle East?  Apparently all the beauty pageant contestants wishing for world peace ain't enough to bring about an end to the crisis there.  I can't imagine anything else being successful then!