Tubas city is about 6 miles from the Jordan Valley the way a crow flies. By road it's more like 22 km (13 miles), via Tayseer checkpoint, which only Israeli settlers and Palestinian residents of the Jordan Valley are permitted to cross. Tayseer excludes most Palestinians and internationals. Most Palestinians are banned from the Jordan Valley as well. Those allowed there are the forced to reach it the long way around, via Ramallah in the center of the West Bank. It's hard to comprehend the absurdity of such a detour without looking at a map. Rather than a 10 minute ride, one travels 6 hours southeast through 3 checkpoints, and then 4 hours back up through 2 checkpoints the next to reach the other side of Tubas' eastern mountains. 10 hours instead of 10 minutes. Click here to read about a day in Tubas.
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