On the morning of Saturday, December 27, my mother and I crossed the Allenby Bridge from Jordan into Jericho. In Jerusalem an hour later, we heard that Israel had struck Gaza. Approximately 200 people had been killed by nightfall.

Ten days later, Israel's military operation...

"Where is your Palestinian ID card?!" A soldier stationed at the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah demanded as she dumped out my purse onto the hood of an armored Jeep.

"I don't have one," I protested. "I'm American--I live in New York!" When I'd first been...