although they’d waved us through when went up on the bridge, they stopped us when we tried to get back to the car. another army jeep had arrived with more scary soldiers. my friend, who’s male, was the first to ask one of them what’s up. then the commander came over and asked why we were taking pictures of his soldiers. my friend said we weren’t, and then asked whether there was some law against taking pictures of roadblocks. apparently there is. the commander demanded that my friend show him his digital pictures, which were of the wall. then he saw my camera and asked if i had taken pictures of his soldiers. i said no, but then i had to show him too. so he saw the mosque, the countryside, the maybe-almond-tree and then he said, “that’s a very nice camera, you should be careful,” and we got to walk past all the palestinians--waiting in taxis, trucks, combis--to our rental car.

this was the next picture, the soldier looking up must have been the one who saw me