Arriving to Hebron, West Bank
Getting to Hebron, West Bank is no easy task, but do not get scared by the endeavour, just relax and brace yourself with patience and a positive attitude.
After one month volunteering in Palestine at The Excellence Center leaving and coming back is a breath of fresh air. I am sure you can relate to the feeling of coming back to a previously visited place and it is this feeling of returning to a friends place that one should have when coming here for the first time, hopefully, this is what the experience will feel like for you as well.
For it is the fear of the unknown what creates stress and worries. This is especially true of traveling into an area that we have heard and read about, often portrayed negatively by the media in a way that can be skewed and one-sided. It is these ideas and pictures most people have of Palestine before coming and what unfortunately tends to make the endeavor here a scary and stressful one. Many volunteers arrive to Hebron with relief as they find themselves finally here. Try to take some of these experiences as your own so as to not think of it as unknown and scary. But a common helpful advice is to give yourself enough time and have the patience to find the right bus, service or transportation of preference.
As I write this article a new volunteer from Switzerland has arrived to Hebron, West Bank, she says she took the shared taxi from the airport to Jerusalem and that went smoothly. Once at Jerusalem she was convinced by a taxi driver to be driven to Hebron, with the story that there were no shared taxis today. This was not true, but it goes to show what can happen when one is under the pressure of the unknown. There are always shared taxis, even on fridays, the trick is starting early and giving yourself the time to find them.
The shared taxis or Service (Sheroot in Israel) are a bit tricky to manage and require some decisiveness that only comes with experience. The driver waits until the van is full and this can make it a time-consuming method. The drivers can also seem a bit pushy as they often refuse to let you go when you decide for a different mode of transportation, but if this is what you want to do, be decisive and they will understand. Talking and being friendly with the other passengers will usually give you some good points, and most drivers speak a bit of English.
The day I arrived to Hebron, West Bank (for the first time) I could not find the shared taxis either and took instead the bus to Bethlehem and from there a shared taxi to Hebron. Luckily I overheard a foreign woman say she was going to Hebron and I quickly made a new friend who helped with bargaining for the trip from Bethlehem to Hebron, which should not be more than 10 NIS per person, (from Jerusalem to Hebron no more than 25 NIS per person). To find them look inside the parking lot between the tram station (Damascus Gate) and the Arab bus station, they are white vans.
Once you arrive to Hebron, West Bank, getting dropped off at the Excellence Center is quite easy because it is located on the main road Ein Sarah, most shared taxis drive by here anyway, and if you see the stadium on the left you’ve just passed the Center as it is just a few meters before on the right side of the road. You will see an empty lot next to an two-storytory building, the Center is behind and over the toy shop, but most people will know where it is if you ask. Congratulations, relax, you’ve arrived, it wasn’t so difficult after all.
