The Jordan Valley

Palestine, after it was carved up in Oslo.

I don't know to what extent readers follow the so-called conflict here, but until very recently, I always had a mental image of Israel on the left of the map so to speak, and Palestine on the right.

However, as you can see from this map, Israel actually occupies a very large area of Palestine on the right hand side of the country (or the East in geographical terms). Over the last couple of days, interpid Haaretz report Amira Hass has written about how Israel has not only occupied the Jordan Valley, but in the last couple of years has shut it off from Palestinians, including many people who actually live there.

So if you look at this map, Palestinians can now only live in the green areas. Hence the notion that Palestine is simply one big (or in fact one quite small) prison. The wall is also being rapidly built along the Western edge of the valley. For a more detailed commentary see this article by Amira Hass or this article.