Perspective: Color-Coded Gates and Frightening Uncertainty in Bethany

Life in East Jerusalem is unlike that in any other city in the world. The people of Jerusalem never know how their days will begin—or how they will end.

My day today started with a message from a friend saying that surveillance cameras on some of Jerusalem’s main streets had been updated. That meant I had to worry about increased fines—as high as $400—and other penalties, including the possibility of having my license revoked for speeding.

Shortly afterward, I posted on community WhatsApp groups that, in the last 24 hours, five yellow iron gates had been installed at the entrances to three villages surrounding Jerusalem—Mukhamas, al-Ram, Hizma, and ‘Anata. These ugly yellow gates were also installed at the entrance to al-‘Izariyya, the largest Jerusalem-area village, which once connected directly to East Jerusalem’s urban center. (You can see the gate in the lead photo above.) Al-‘Izariyya, also known as biblical Bethany, is an important Christian and Muslim archaeological site; its historic main road once ran from Jerusalem to Jericho and on to Amman. But Israel’s Separation Wall turned al-‘Izariyya into a backwater, and the historic road has become a worthless side street. Now, Israeli authorities have placed an iron gate at the village entrance, completely cutting off access to this important place. It’s likely in preparation for the major apartheid road that is coming soon (see New Extension of Apartheid Road around Jerusalem Will Bar Palestinians from Central West Bank, Speed Annexation).

Lawyer Ziad AbuZayyad, a native of al-‘Izariyya and former Minister of Jerusalem Affairs in the Palestinian Authority (PA), told Jerusalem Story, “Putting gates at the entrance to al-‘Izariyya does not [merely] mean that the occupation army closes al-‘Izariyya whenever it wants, but instead it is separating the [entire] southern West Bank from its center. Anyone wishing to travel from the northern and central West Bank to the south cannot do so except by entering al-‘Izariyya to get to Wadi al-Nar roundabout.”1 Wadi al-Nar, or Valley of Fire, is the circuitous and dangerous road that PA ID holders use to travel from the northern to southern West Bank or vice versa. However, recent changes by Israel indicate that this route may no longer be accessible (see Jerusalem Expert Explains Israel’s Apartheid Road Expansion).

These now-prolific iron gates are color-coded, symbols that we must understand to stay alive. The yellow gates are usually open unless the area military commander orders otherwise. A few days ago, the army closed the gates to villages west of Jerusalem after a shooting attack [by Palestinians targeting Jews] on Ramot Road, built on the lands of Beit Iksa, Lifta, and Shu‘afat. Palestinians living there were unable to return to their homes through the night and into the next day.

Orange gates are closed most of the time and are only opened for security purposes. Similar gates painted green allow passage, but only with a special permit. Blue or black iron gates mean that the area is a closed military zone, forbidden to approach. It is best to move away from these before your soul is forced to depart your body.

AbuZayyad said that the proliferation of gates at the entrances to Palestinian cities and villages represents increasing ghettoization—only the beginning of what is to come. Jewish Israeli neighborhoods or settlements have security gates intended to protect the residents, while gates in Palestinian neighborhoods are geopolitical tools of control.

“I don’t know where the Palestinian leadership stands on the details of the daily life of the Palestinian citizen,” he said.

Ahmed al-Batsh, a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem, also sounded grim. “This is just the beginning. Gates will be installed in all of Jerusalem’s towns and villages, and their opening and closing hours will be controlled according to a clear plan. We are heading toward a tunnel whose exit is unseen.”2

Bishop Atallah Hanna told Jerusalem Story,

A vegetable seller in al-‘Izariyya, originally from a town near Hebron in the southern West Bank, said he came to al-‘Izariyya to sell his goods, because the area has been a vital transportation hub between the north and south of the West Bank. “I am seriously considering closing the stand and returning to my town, because this gate means turning al-‘Izariyya and other towns around Jerusalem and in the West Bank into isolated islands, controlling people’s lives with an ugly gate that demonstrates the brutal occupation.”4

As usual, Palestinians cope with dark humor. A friend tells me: “We had an app to monitor the status of the hundreds of checkpoints spread throughout the West Bank, and we monitor them morning and evening before any trip. Now we need another app to monitor the status of the yellow gates and keep track of our unbearable lives. God help us!”5

Besides the rainbow of the iron gates, which have become our nightmare, death lurks at every checkpoint, uncaring of age, gender, or appearance. Everyone faces the end of a soldier’s gun there—whether they are male or female. Dimitri Diliani, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and spokesman for the Democratic Reform Faction, said that since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Israel had erected 849 military restrictions, including 288 gates at the entrances to Palestinian villages and cities in the West Bank, 172 of which are permanently closed. (These numbers are cited in a May 2025 report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and do not include the new gates installed in al-‘Izzariya and Jerusalem-area villages. The UN estimates that 60 percent, or 172 of these gates, are closed most of the time.)6

He commented:

These gates represent a new geographical reality and a redesign of Palestinian life in Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied West Bank.