The Man Behind a West Bank Telegram Channel Trying to Keep Palestinian Drivers Safe

The first time we were supposed to meet Anas Hattab, he canceled at the last minute: There was no way to make it from his hometown in Tulkarm, in the northern West Bank, south to Ramallah, where we were meeting, and back before it got dark. That trip, which used to take him an hour, now often takes two to three hours—and some days far longer—because of Israeli military checkpoints on the way. This was one of those days.

At 30, Hattab’s life now revolves around these checkpoints—perhaps more than any other Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. But he has also transformed his community’s approach to them: Nearly 350,000 people follow his traffic Telegram group, which has closed a gap left open by major navigation apps that fail Palestinian users. Local radio stations build their hourly road segments off his dispatches. A routing system used by...

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