In bars and cafes across Israel, the air is thick with cannabis smoke. For years, smoking weed has been socially permissible in Israel despite being technically illegal. Patio tables in cities like Tel Aviv are dotted with people openly rolling joints and lighting up without a second thought. Ironically, smoking pot is tolerated in more public places in Israel than in countries like Canada, where recreational cannabis is legal. In Israel’s trendy cafes and middle-class Jewish neighborhoods, police often turn a blind eye.
As is true of many of the freedoms enjoyed by Israeli citizens, however, the open consumption of cannabis stops at Israel’s separation wall, beyond which Palestinians are economically, militarily, and legally denied many of their most basic rights.
While there is a budding cannabis culture in the West Bank — tobacco stores there openly sell weed paraphernalia like rolling papers and grinders — Palestinians, who live under military rule, face serious legal jeopardy if they are caught firing up.
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