This morning, it takes the Khalil family almost an hour to travel less than two miles to drop the children at their schools. First comes the challenge of finding a taxi large enough to hold Nadia Khalil and her four children. There are no school buses, and public buses are rare. At this hour, students compete with workers for taxi seats. The family stands on a corner a block from their house for 10 minutes.
Dust curls up from the passing traffic stream.
Nadia harbors another worry for Hala at school. The Israeli army has parked a tank near the girl's elementary school. The taxi winds through town. Half the stores are closed, victims of the economic cloud that hangs over Palestinian towns as the violence worsens. The United Nations estimates that unemployment among Palestinians has soared to 45 percent.