The Gift Shop
Side by side, three men smoke shisha, eat figs and drink coffee — one a Muslim, one a Christian, and the other a Jew.
They’re friends, gathered at a souvenir ship in Sebastiya in the heart of the West Bank. Muhammad Kayed runs the shop and his Christian friend, Sami Dababneh, tends the tomb of John the Baptist in the ruins nearby that date back 10,000 years to Alexander the Great, first to rule and wreck it.
Zeev Walberg arrives last, driving a tourist bus from Israel escorted by a military vehicle. He emerges after three fit young men, Israeli Army conscripts, oversee the wave of middle-aged couples slowly taking their time to navigate the precarious steps of the bus.
While the tourists quickly vanish with the military personnel to explore the site, Zeev settles in at the gift shop, where Muhammad’s prepared a plate of fruit and shisha for his friend. They shake hands and Muhammad scurries away to quickly prepare coffee in just the manner Zeev desires.
The Holy Land Sun serves as both a gift shop and restaurant for tourists coming to visit Sebastiya – a small town of around 5,000 outside of Nablus.
Muhammad owns the shop and acquired the business from his parents. His siblings inherited other aspects of the family work, including a farm, or pursued a college education.
Muhammad and Sami go back to childhood.
“I have been with him since our first class together in the same school here in Palestine up until secondary school. Now he is working in the school and taking care of the (tomb) of John the Baptist. He is always cleaning and taking care of it with his wife and two children,” Muhammad said.
Because each of their livelihoods brings them to this land, the three have become close friends. But with the political changes that have reshaped the borders, their visits have become more difficult.
Before the Second Intifada — from 2000 to 2005 — travel throughout Israel and the West Bank was far less restricted.
“Everything was open and Israelis could come and everything was OK. But after the Second Intifada they distributed the land into sections: Parts A (Palestinian-controlled), B (jointly controlled), and C (Israeli-ruled). They made the Separation Wall so you cannot go from place to place,” Muhammad said.
Zeev and Muhammad have known each other for over 35 years. They used to see one another quite frequently — nearly every week — but now Zeev is only able to make the trip from Tel Aviv five times a year.
For Muhammad and other Palestinians, travel to Israel is very difficult. While Israelis need military approval to enter the West Bank, they have an easier time of it.
“I have permission to go to Israel but I cannot go with my car,” Muhammad says. “Once I go to the (border) checkpoint I need take the taxi because I cannot drive in Israeli territory. “
Zeev says most tourists aren’t scared to visit the region, despite rules that they must be accompanied by soliders.
“The bus is always completely full. They like to come here, they like to go to Nablus to eat Kunafa (a cheese pastry) there and buy soap.”
For Zeev, the most difficult aspect of the political reality is that the youth don’t understand what they’re missing, that it used to be so different.
“Ya, of course old people are missing this but young people do not know so they don’t care about visiting. Before the First Intifada all of Palestine was open. There were no checkpoints. I could get in my car and just go,” Muhammad says.
That is what makes this tourist stop reunion so unusual.
As the tour concludes, the tourists make their way to the shop, swarming like bees for a cold drink. Then they scurry to the bus as Zeev says goodbye to his friends.
The military vehicle leads Zeev and his bus away, back into Area C, their home in this alphabet of divided lands.
