1 hour!

That's how long it took me to get from Ramallah to Jerusalem today on the bus.

Even the most conservative estimates suggest that it only took 15 minutes, prior to the Occupation Wall and checkpoints. (The least conservative I ever heard was 6 minutes!)

I wonder if Israel will compensate me for time lost?

The route itself was farcical. Despite the Occupation Wall and the Kalandia checkpoint, it's possible to drive around them. Today, we ended up going down the road to Bethlehem - essentially from the North-East side to the South-East side of Jerusalem, before entering the city via one of the Maale settlement colonies or whatever they're called (biggest settlement colonies in West Bank). The journey back, in a straighter line, but not less convoluted, took thirty minutes.

While the bombs are dropping, the everyday subtle violence and collective punishment continues too.