865: The Other Territory

This American Life

Society & Culture, News, Politics, Arts

4.6 • 88.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since October 7th, while the world has focused its attention on Gaza, the Israeli government has tightened the screws on the three million Palestinians in the West Bank in all sorts of dramatic ways. We travel to the West Bank to see these changes in person.

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Prologue: Ira joins Hamed on his Monday commute. He has to navigate a constantly changing series of checkpoints and roadblocks to get to work each day. Hamed works for Comet-ME, which sets up solar panels, water systems, and security cameras in small villages all over the West Bank. (13 minutes)
Act One: Settler violence has worsened significantly in the West Bank since October 7, 2023. Yael Even Or travels to a tiny village called Tuba, surrounded by Israeli settlements, to meet the 27-year-old resident trying to protect it. (26 minutes)
Act 2: Two quick snapshots of life in the West Bank since October 7th. (6 minutes)
Act Two: After October 7th, Israeli Minister of Security Itamar Ben-Gvir increased restrictions on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli security prisons. Prisoners started dying. Dana Chivvis looks into one of those deaths. (25 minutes)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeaped in today's episode of the show.
0:05.3	If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, This AmericanLife.org.
0:11.8	Hamit's got the vibe of a guy who can handle anything.
0:14.4	A beefy Tony Soprano type, but without the menace.
0:17.6	We're in this big white four-wheel drive pickup truck that he tools around in. Me and him and a producer, Sousan Khalifi.
0:23.6	And Ahmed's task this morning requires ingenuity.
0:27.6	His task? He's got to get to work.
0:30.6	Step one, get himself out of Hebron, the city where he lives.
0:35.6	This is in the West Bank, so the movement on the roads is controlled by the Israeli Army.
0:40.7	And every day the army changes which exits out of the city are open.
0:45.1	So I checked on many groups, which entrance is easy to go out.
0:52.0	These are WhatsApp and telegram groups.
0:56.0	Today they say that only two roads are open in and out of the city of a quarter million people,
0:59.0	who drive to one of them,
1:01.0	where a handful of soldiers with assault rifles are manning a checkpoint.
1:04.0	They open this door around six at morning.
1:08.0	And we're third in line. There's a gate and soldiers are going through the cars.
1:14.6	Yes.
1:15.6	Also most of the time you will stay here between 10 minutes until one hour.
1:22.6	Today we're lucky.
1:24.6	We're early, the line's short and the wave us through without stopping.
1:29.2	After 7.30, Hammond says, he stop every car, and it gets really backed up.
	...

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