This was before Israel withdrew their settlements from Gaza. I've been travelling to Israel, West Bank and Gaza for over a decade, the two words that come to m

This was before Israel withdrew their settlements from Gaza. I've been travelling to Israel, West Bank and Gaza for over a decade, the two words that come to mind are apartheid and prison. I'm lucky, I have a western passport and I can travel through the checkpoints and blockades with a wave of white privilege as I pass the masses queueing to go through metal detectors to get to their fields. In comparison as a westerner, going into a shopping centre is a brief metal detector, the airport is a nicer experience than US airports despite the elevated threat, the only extensive security checks I encounter is coming out of Gaza at Erez which takes far longer than a typical airport check. Of course it's not without reason, Palestinian terrorists have blown up many places in Israel in the past, buses, restaurants, etc, that caution is not unwarranted. Meanwhile the far right of the Israeli political spectrum continue to spread into areas they shouldn't be, whether it's illegal settlements in the west bank or burning Palestinian fields supported by the Israeli military. It's not just attacking Palestinians and Muslims though -- how often is the attempted eviction of Christians from Jerusalem mentioned in the US press?