The car in front flashes its hazard lights, a signal to alert drivers that there is an Israeli military checkpoint ahead. Niveen Draghmeh sits up a little straighter, her medical ID clasped in her hand. Just a week earlier, her husband was taken out of his car and beaten by two Israeli soldiers at this very same checkpoint.
It was not the first time that had happened to him on this stretch of road outside the northern West Bank city of Nablus. He is a nurse, working in the center of Nablus, where 35-year-old Draghmeh has also worked as a midwife for the past 13 years. The couple juggle shifts so they can take turns looking after their three children.
Their youngest, 6 months old, was born on the maternity ward in Rafidia Surgical Hospital, where Draghmeh works. Draghmeh is on her way to her family in her hometown of Beita, about 8 miles southeast of Nablus, after a double shift on one of the busiest maternity wards in the West Bank. Since October, the length of the journey has ballooned to between two and three hours, as the number of Israeli security checkpoints and blockades that dot the West Bank has multiplied.
With the travel time and risk to the safety of the taxi driver she hires increasing, the cost of the trip has skyrocketed to the equivalent of $20 a day. It’s money that she just doesn’t have. The car creeps forward over the potholed road, and Draghmeh’s hands quiver as the checkpoint comes into view.
She is mumbling under her breath as she mentally prepares .