‘Hala studies applied chemistry at university. She lives in Yanoun, a small village to the south of Nablus, the city where she studies. Every day, to get to class, Hala catches a school minibus that takes children to Aqraba, the nearest town. There she waits for another public minibus to take her to Nablus. Her journey can take around two hours. It hasn’t always been this way. The inhabitants of Yanoun and the neighbouring villages used to be able to travel to Nablus by a road that crosses the hills and arrive there in about 20 minutes. Nablus is a crucial hub in the northern part of the West Bank where people study, work, conduct business, go to church, to the mosque, go to hospital or meet with friends and family.