Written by Editors Sunday, 13 September 2009 02:59
Last June, Israel quietly adopted a new border policy that effectively prevents most foreign travelers who want to visit the occupied territories under the nominal control of the Palestinian Authority from getting back into Israel on the same visa (See TIME Magazine's on-line story on the new policy). In a sense the Israelis have begun to copy the small-mindedness of some Arab countries who refuse to admit anyone who has an Israeli stamp on their passport. In the Middle East, pettiness is an infectious disease. Not surprisingly, the latest Israeli strategy has not exactly won the hearts and minds of international travelers--especially those who were not forewarned. Laurel Hartig, a young American graduate student at the American University in Beirut, thought she would visit a friend in Ramallah. She offers the following vivid account of just how wrong things can go at the border for the casual traveler who makes the mistake of showing interest in anything Palestinian .
Laurel writes: I flew into Amman, Jordan on Wednesday night and left my bag at a fancy hotel near the Dead Sea, intending to pick it up later on my way to Beirut. I left for the border at 11am on Thursday morning. It was a half hour bus ride to the bridge and then another 20 minutes or so across a desolate moon-valley to somewhere in Israel...
At first everything was fine, we went to the VIP line with the other white people as the border guards screamed "la falastiniyeen!" at everyone else. (No Palestinians!) In front of me weresome Dutch tourists who wanted to visit Jerusalem. They passed quickly through.
To avoid the girl who was screaming at everyone, I went in the line with a quieter girl. All the border guards at the King Hussein Bridge seem to be 15-year old girls. They chew gum and wear skinny jeans. They scowl at the masses of Palestinians; families, old men in wheelchairs, women in groups of three or four. I wondered about them, if they came from school to work here in the summers, what their lives were like, why they wanted to do this?The guard quietly took my passport and asked me a few questions. Something went wrong when I said I didn't want to visit Jerusalem, just the West Bank. They took my passport and disappeared into nowhere. While waiting for the first six hours in the area with other delayed travelers, I met a young guy from Boston.He was Palestinian and this was his first time traveling there. We talked and commiserated in between looking around and sighing and asking bored-looking guards if they had seen our passports.
We talked about the absurdity of our situation and how, as Americans, we were supposed to be "friends of Israel." I told him about the Arabic word sumood which means patience/ steadfastness. He wanted to go clubbing in Tel Aviv."Why?" I said, "don't you think it would be weird?" We made plans to meet up in Ramallah and go to a coffee house.
At the end of the day, all the windows were closing. Finally, as the last person, he received his passport. "I'll wait for you," he said. My heart leaped when I saw a sour looking lady carrying my passport. "Thank you so much," I said.
"We need to ask you some questions," she said. She took me aside. I was so nervous. She clarified my name and email, then she asked me about my time in Beirut. I told her it was a study program, organized by a translation service.She frowned. "Why do you like Arabs?" I didn't know what to say. Is it a crime in Israel to love Arabs? Is it a crime to study Palestinian art?
"Palestinian art?" she said, "like what?" "Lots of stuff," I said, " Plays,movies, books; everywhere, all over the world."
I didn't care, at that moment, whether she would reject my application. I had already seen enough. For almost six more hours, I sat in a cell, a small hallway with 12 plastic chairs, 768 holes each and three locked doors. Doors kept opening and closing as frustrated workers rushed back and forth with copies of my documents and other belongings. I must admit, I felt a bit of satisfaction everytime they dropped something or yawned or yelled at each other. Truly, the victimizer feels no pleasure and turns around lashing to attack his coworkers when there are no victims to be had. I watched the spots on the wall turn into trees, ships and castles. For about 15 minutes, a Palestinian-American man was brought in. They asked him questions about his relatives in Palestine. " I don't know them," he said, "I've never met them, I just wanted to go and see Jerusalem." They turned him away. I kept sitting. I plotted my revenge, I held imaginary conversations with my friends, I crafted an eloquent statement which they never gave me the opportunity to recite. Here it is, in case you were wondering: "I would like to say something. Frankly, I am ashamed of all of you. Because I am friends with Palestinians, you treat me like a criminal and you treat the Palestinians worse than criminals. You treat them like animals. I'm sure you are nice people, but if you care at all, you should find another job." As the time ticked by, I found it more surreal. I thought of another close friend who died on Monday. He was a playwright. I thought he would want me to be brave. I had the idea to turn my experience intoa one act play. I wanted to tell people what was happening. Then I became scared. What if the Israelis decide to kill me like Wael Zuaiter, the Palestinian translator and intellectual who was murdered in Rome in 1979? That won't happen, I thought, my parents will protest; my government will intervene. On second thought, would they really? What happened to American student Rachel Corrie? Were her murderers ever prosecuted?
I tried to protest in what ever ways I could. Once, I said I had to go to the bathroom. The man who was later to question me pointed the way to the bathrooms. When I tried to enter them, I saw there was soapy water all over the floor- there was no way I could walk across it. I turned to ask but there was no one there anymore, the halls were empty. I decided to make my way to the bathrooms on the other side of the wall of windows. I had seen them before. I went and came back, hearing the echo of my shoes on the smooth tiles. I tried to re-enter the room where I had been waiting.
"Stop!" I turned to see a young man. He was pointing a gun at me. They quickly hustled me back into the room and left me to wait again. Several times they offered me water or food; stale cookies that had lard in them which I could not eat. I refused every time, which annoyed them. My heart was pounding. I had bizarre thoughts of myself as Princess Leia. What did she do when she was held captiveby Darth Vader? She waited for Luke Skywalker and Han Solo to come and rescue her. Then, I remembered that she was made to stand and watch while her entire planet and family were blown up before her eyes.
The most important thing that I realized as I was sitting there, trembling is that the State of Israel- the most powerful military state in the region- is afraid of me. Me. I am a girl who asks questions, who follows her heart no matter how far from home it may take her. I just wanted to visit Ramallah. Just think of it. The mighty state of Israel is staying up late, rifling through my baggage, rubbing their eyes, trying to decide if an American student is actually a spy for Hezbollah. (post script: I am not a spy for Hezbollah).
The state of Israel as a military occupying power (that is not to say it might turn into something different) is doomed by its own moral failure to realize that the more you clamp down, the more security runs through your fingers. Safety can only be built in peace and with mutual respect. I am reminded of a quote from a Palestinian man in a newspaper: "Why don't you leave us alone so that we can teach our children to be friends with you?" I do recognize the need for Israelis to have security, but this security which they currently practice is excessive, unecessary and ridiculous. It is worrisome on numerous ethical and humanitarian levels.
Finally, I was taken into another room. After quickly passing a strange machine that looked like a stun capsule, I was taken to a curtained-off room with a female guard who ordered me to take off my clothes. She asked if I had any pockets and checked the seams of my skirt. She gave me sympathetic looks. "Don't worry," she said.
I refused to look at her. Just because you are a woman does not change the fact that you are violating me. I answered her questions curtly as I dressed again, aware for the first time that she envied me. I tried to dress slowly, letting it sink in that with every sleeve I was restoring my dignity, putting on a maskwhich obviously irritated my captors.
Although I am a Western tourist, I was not dressed, as many of them were at theVIP gate, in shorts and t-shirts, in marked contrast to the Palestinian women, most of whom were covered in veils and long dresses. I tried to dress appropriately. Perhaps, I would have been fine if I marched up to the gate in shorts, waving my guidebook and saying that I wanted to visit Jerusalem and studyHebrew. Perhaps I should have.
They then took me to an area where they opened up all my luggage. I couldn't help smiling at the fact that they thought they would find something. It was like living in a spy thriller. They tossed all my things in a pile. "Put your things away," he barked, as if I had taken them out. It was humiliating to have to quietly pack my things again, as if apologizing. They made me read the names of all the medicines in my kit and describe what they were for. "Cramps, you know, like a woman's thing?"
The man took out my jewelery, exclamining "ooh, is this real?" I said nothing is real except for my grandmother's ring. "Is itfor sale?" he asked. "No, it's not for sale." I said. Then we headed inside and the questioning began. My interrogator should have been a kind-looking man.When he opened the door and said "Hello," I knew that he was dangerous. He had the strangely gleaming eyes of someone whom life has broken and who in turn makes his living by breaking others. I thought he was capable of anything. He would lull you along with a few sentences of humor and then ask a sharp question. He was trying to trip me up and I was glad at that moment that I told the truth. I was too emotionally and physically exhausted to think about lying so I told the truth. I study politics and art. There was another woman in the room with us who later sat with me and never smiled nor said a word. I think she was a lie detector because she kept watching the corners of my mouth and the ways I fidgeted with my clothes. I felt like I was being constantly raped as with each question, I was forced to give up a piece of my life story to this creature.
"Please call my parents," I said, " they are waiting for me." He said he would but never did. They made me log in to my Facebook account. They played the songs on my iPod. They read my diary, after I made fun of him; "I'm sure you will find my life fascinating; my parents, my boy friend..."
"Just tell us if you have any links, any friends that you think we should know about," he said. If I really did, would I really be so stupid as to to tell him about it? I was harrassed and mocked for my love of Arab culture and wanting to learn Arabic. "Are you sure you don't want to learn Hebrew instead?" my interrogator asked in a sweetly mocking tone. "Do you want me to answer that?"I said. He flipped through every page of my notebook from a political science trip called the Beirut Exchange in January 2009. He paused when he came to the words Hamas or Hezbollah and asked me to read my notes and then explain them.He skipped right over the sections of human rights violations in Gaza and thesettlements. It seems he did not want to talk about them. He seemed surprised to learn that students from around the world had participated in this trip, making me repeat over and over again the nationality of each student and how to pronounce their name. He was also incredulous that they would teach Arabic at a college in the United States. "They teach that there?" He asked, as if to say,why? I think that they particularly didn't like the part of my notes where Robert Fisk referred to Israelis as Sampson and Delila.
For ten minutes, they put me in a room with queues of Palestinians waiting for their luggage to be screened. I think they wanted me to realize that I was lucky. It was strange to see the guards screaming and yelling at such well-behaved people. "Stay back!" But no one was doing anything. They kept hinting that I was going back to Amman. I never believed that I would actually get to see Ramallah. At that point, I didn't care. I had seen enough of Israel. Finally, at 12:30am, they suddenly dumped me out on the other side intoPalestine. There were more checkpoints to go through and it was so late. My hands were shaking because I had eaten nothing since 8am. I had no way to call my friend and I would have had to take two buses and a taxi to get to her house if they were still running and I felt myself break down and start crying. I didn't want her to have to deal with this. I think they did this on purpose also. I just wanted to see a friendly face. I wanted my friends and family.They granted me provisional entry for two weeks to the Palestinian Authority only. I feel sad for coming so close but I decided to go back. In my haze, I forgot to realize that when they waved it in front of my face, gloating, that the Israelis had stamped my passport on the way out. Now, I would not be able to go to Beirut for my school orientation.
The border patrol guard handed memy passport as I boarded the bus. "Have a nice day," another young boy with agun said. I was the only person on the bus. I started crying again and the driver asked me what was wrong. I explained to him that I wanted to go toRamallah but the Israelis were crazy and thought I was a spy for Hezbollah."I'm hungry," I said. He shook his head and rummaged in his bag for an apple.When we reached the border, the police came on the bus and asked me why I was returning. I couldn't speak because I was crying so they took me in- side and made me a cup of tea.
The chief of the police station gave me his cell phone number in case I needed anything before I got to the hotel. When I reached the station at King Hussein Bridge, I met again the officers who had checked my passport earlier in the day. I told them what had happened. They too were sympathetic. I tried to make jokes. They told me my Arabic was good. They called me a taxi, they woke someone up because it was nearly 2 in the morning. I said goodbye to the officer who had helped me. "Say hi to Hasan Nasrallah," he said, winking. I have never stopped being impressed by the hospitality of Jordanians. It is genuine and unaffected. They just wanted me to be safe. "We are brothers," said the taxi driver. He wanted me to stay with him and his mother because the hotel was too expensive. I finally reached the hotel after taking the Dead Sea Road. We passed miles of families parked in open- air trucks, picnic tables and cloths set up by the water. It was almost Ramadan. People were laughing and smoking argileh even though it was so late at night. I came back to the hotel and the hospitality of relative luxury.
I make no claims to know what I was doing. The stupidest thing was bringing the notebook. I just wanted to study my Arabic notes on the bus, I didn't remember that my Beirut notes were in there. Perhaps it is my American upbringing that has accustomed me to freedom of movement and self-expression. My story is not important in and of itself but for the ways in which it sheds light on the continuing patterns of Israeli paranoid suspicion as well as racism and occupation. In the last few days, I have heard many similar stories andreceived tips on how to pass through. Perhaps, I should have just lied to them, but who knows if that would have worked or not? I try to live a life of conscience. Unfortunately, in this world, it is very very difficult. We become political everytime we plug in our cellphone, eat oranges or shop for clothing in thousands of choices that have far-reaching consequences. We would never know if we did not seek to find out. There is a quote I like by the graphic artist Milton Glaser. He says, "Do not ask what am I doing? Ask, what stories am I implicated in?" In my life, I am implicated in the story of nonviolent Palestinian resistance. My life has led me this way and there is a pull that is stronger than coincidence. That is all I know. I just want to say that my heartbreaks for Palestinians and Arabs within Israel who have to live with the occupiers that I saw with my own eyes at the border. If evil has a face in this world, it is an Israeli bureaucrat. I deeply wanted (and still want) to visit my friends to enjoy Ramadan with them. Maybe next year. I am safe, in Amman, waiting for my new passport. I still feel scared that the Israelis will read my email, tap my phone or find me again someday. I never ever want to see them again but I would like to go to Palestine someday, I hear it's beautiful. This is only a beginning and not the end. We are the conscience of the world, we are its eyes and heart. If we don't speak up, who will?
"Please call my parents," I said, " they are waiting for me." He said he would but never did. They made me log in to my Facebook account. They played the songs on my iPod. They read my diary, after I made fun of him; "I'm sure you will find my life fascinating; my parents, my boy friend..."
"Just tell us if you have any links, any friends that you think we should know about," he said. If I really did, would I really be so stupid as to to tell him about it? I was harrassed and mocked for my love of Arab culture and wanting to learn Arabic. "Are you sure you don't want to learn Hebrew instead?" my interrogator asked in a sweetly mocking tone. "Do you want me to answer that?"I said. He flipped through every page of my notebook from a political science trip called the Beirut Exchange in January 2009. He paused when he came to the words Hamas or Hezbollah and asked me to read my notes and then explain them.He skipped right over the sections of human rights violations in Gaza and thesettlements. It seems he did not want to talk about them. He seemed surprised to learn that students from around the world had participated in this trip, making me repeat over and over again the nationality of each student and how to pronounce their name. He was also incredulous that they would teach Arabic at a college in the United States. "They teach that there?" He asked, as if to say,why? I think that they particularly didn't like the part of my notes where Robert Fisk referred to Israelis as Sampson and Delila.
For ten minutes, they put me in a room with queues of Palestinians waiting for their luggage to be screened. I think they wanted me to realize that I was lucky. It was strange to see the guards screaming and yelling at such well-behaved people. "Stay back!" But no one was doing anything. They kept hinting that I was going back to Amman. I never believed that I would actually get to see Ramallah. At that point, I didn't care. I had seen enough of Israel. Finally, at 12:30am, they suddenly dumped me out on the other side intoPalestine. There were more checkpoints to go through and it was so late. My hands were shaking because I had eaten nothing since 8am. I had no way to call my friend and I would have had to take two buses and a taxi to get to her house if they were still running and I felt myself break down and start crying. I didn't want her to have to deal with this. I think they did this on purpose also. I just wanted to see a friendly face. I wanted my friends and family.They granted me provisional entry for two weeks to the Palestinian Authority only. I feel sad for coming so close but I decided to go back. In my haze, I forgot to realize that when they waved it in front of my face, gloating, that the Israelis had stamped my passport on the way out. Now, I would not be able to go to Beirut for my school orientation.
The border patrol guard handed memy passport as I boarded the bus. "Have a nice day," another young boy with agun said. I was the only person on the bus. I started crying again and the driver asked me what was wrong. I explained to him that I wanted to go toRamallah but the Israelis were crazy and thought I was a spy for Hezbollah."I'm hungry," I said. He shook his head and rummaged in his bag for an apple.When we reached the border, the police came on the bus and asked me why I was returning. I couldn't speak because I was crying so they took me in- side and made me a cup of tea.
The chief of the police station gave me his cell phone number in case I needed anything before I got to the hotel. When I reached the station at King Hussein Bridge, I met again the officers who had checked my passport earlier in the day. I told them what had happened. They too were sympathetic. I tried to make jokes. They told me my Arabic was good. They called me a taxi, they woke someone up because it was nearly 2 in the morning. I said goodbye to the officer who had helped me. "Say hi to Hasan Nasrallah," he said, winking. I have never stopped being impressed by the hospitality of Jordanians. It is genuine and unaffected. They just wanted me to be safe. "We are brothers," said the taxi driver. He wanted me to stay with him and his mother because the hotel was too expensive. I finally reached the hotel after taking the Dead Sea Road. We passed miles of families parked in open- air trucks, picnic tables and cloths set up by the water. It was almost Ramadan. People were laughing and smoking argileh even though it was so late at night. I came back to the hotel and the hospitality of relative luxury.
I make no claims to know what I was doing. The stupidest thing was bringing the notebook. I just wanted to study my Arabic notes on the bus, I didn't remember that my Beirut notes were in there. Perhaps it is my American upbringing that has accustomed me to freedom of movement and self-expression. My story is not important in and of itself but for the ways in which it sheds light on the continuing patterns of Israeli paranoid suspicion as well as racism and occupation. In the last few days, I have heard many similar stories andreceived tips on how to pass through. Perhaps, I should have just lied to them, but who knows if that would have worked or not? I try to live a life of conscience. Unfortunately, in this world, it is very very difficult. We become political everytime we plug in our cellphone, eat oranges or shop for clothing in thousands of choices that have far-reaching consequences. We would never know if we did not seek to find out. There is a quote I like by the graphic artist Milton Glaser. He says, "Do not ask what am I doing? Ask, what stories am I implicated in?" In my life, I am implicated in the story of nonviolent Palestinian resistance. My life has led me this way and there is a pull that is stronger than coincidence. That is all I know. I just want to say that my heartbreaks for Palestinians and Arabs within Israel who have to live with the occupiers that I saw with my own eyes at the border. If evil has a face in this world, it is an Israeli bureaucrat. I deeply wanted (and still want) to visit my friends to enjoy Ramadan with them. Maybe next year. I am safe, in Amman, waiting for my new passport. I still feel scared that the Israelis will read my email, tap my phone or find me again someday. I never ever want to see them again but I would like to go to Palestine someday, I hear it's beautiful. This is only a beginning and not the end. We are the conscience of the world, we are its eyes and heart. If we don't speak up, who will?
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email this
Comments (21)
Subscribe to this comment's feed
written by SRS, October 02, 2009
Excellent post - if only such information spreads to more and more people!
-
- +7
-
-
written by Khaled, October 02, 2009
I confess that you, young lady, have the courage and spine of a hundred men. I do not think I would be able to endure this humiliation nor could I keep my composure.
Thank you for your honesty and courage!
Shukran from a Diaspora Palestinian.
Thank you for your honesty and courage!
Shukran from a Diaspora Palestinian.
-
- +5
-
-
written by anonymous, October 03, 2009
do you not think, perhaps, that if you were israeli crossing the border you may have been treated the very same way? and similarly you cannot project your experiences on the border guards to the israeli population. there are a large amount of israeli's who refuse to accept occupation or justify israel's treatment of palestinians.
-
- -4
-
-
written by Arsha, October 03, 2009
This is a very insightful piece. If this is what happens to a visiting American, imagine what happens to Palestinians in the West bank and Gaza daily?!
Perhaps this can be (with the authors permission) posted on a mainstream news website such as The Guardian website...it deserves greater exposure.
Kudos for having the bravery and endeavour to do what only a handful of westerners do.
Perhaps this can be (with the authors permission) posted on a mainstream news website such as The Guardian website...it deserves greater exposure.
Kudos for having the bravery and endeavour to do what only a handful of westerners do.
-
- +6
-
-
written by Bilal, October 03, 2009
This is a very touching story. What would you expect from the "guards" of an usurping entity and an occupier state. many relatives of mine go through the same thing daily. so imagine their Sumood.
on anycase, first I really thank you and hold your hands for showing such courage and determination. people of conscience need those two the most. and secondly, the style of your writing is amazing. Looking forward to reading more of your posts
on anycase, first I really thank you and hold your hands for showing such courage and determination. people of conscience need those two the most. and secondly, the style of your writing is amazing. Looking forward to reading more of your posts
-
- +2
-
-
written by anonymous, October 03, 2009
"do you not think, perhaps, that if you were israeli crossing the border you may have been treated the very same way?"
Sheer ignorance. No, Israelis (other than Palestinian Israelis or increasingly Israelis who have genuine sympathies withe Palestinians) are almost never treated this way. It is a racist system, pure and simple as is made abundantly clear in the author's experiences. Perhaps you should read it again.
"and similarly you cannot project your experiences on the border guards to the israeli population. there are a large amount of israeli's who refuse to accept occupation or justify israel's treatment of palestinians."
Actually, the number is miniscule. You want proof? Look at the electoral patterns, the opinion polls, etc. There is almost unanimous support in Israel for racism and oppression and occupation. If democracy is good for anything, it is for revealing peoples' true values and desires. And Israeli 'democracy' is very clear: they want Arabs to disappear or die. Just as Hutu Power extremists came to call Tutsis and Rwandans who believed in equality irrespective of ethnicity "cockroaches" before they were able to get the masses of the population to engage in genocide, so to do Zionists increasingly treat Palestinians and Arabs as non-humans. It may not have reached the stage of genocide, but with US funding and support, the Israeli population is overwhelmingly gearing themselves up for the option. It is a state of hatred and racism, a state that has learned nothing from Jewish history or human history in regard to civilized values. Zionism is not just racism, it is evil incarnate - manifested daily in banal abuses of power, indiscriminate violence, theft, and dehumanization of anyone who gets in the way of their racist philosophy. It's amazing only that an America that claims to have deeply internalized the lessons of the Holocaust can completely ignore what the precursors of the Holocaust were when it comes to Palestinians and Arabs.
Sheer ignorance. No, Israelis (other than Palestinian Israelis or increasingly Israelis who have genuine sympathies withe Palestinians) are almost never treated this way. It is a racist system, pure and simple as is made abundantly clear in the author's experiences. Perhaps you should read it again.
"and similarly you cannot project your experiences on the border guards to the israeli population. there are a large amount of israeli's who refuse to accept occupation or justify israel's treatment of palestinians."
Actually, the number is miniscule. You want proof? Look at the electoral patterns, the opinion polls, etc. There is almost unanimous support in Israel for racism and oppression and occupation. If democracy is good for anything, it is for revealing peoples' true values and desires. And Israeli 'democracy' is very clear: they want Arabs to disappear or die. Just as Hutu Power extremists came to call Tutsis and Rwandans who believed in equality irrespective of ethnicity "cockroaches" before they were able to get the masses of the population to engage in genocide, so to do Zionists increasingly treat Palestinians and Arabs as non-humans. It may not have reached the stage of genocide, but with US funding and support, the Israeli population is overwhelmingly gearing themselves up for the option. It is a state of hatred and racism, a state that has learned nothing from Jewish history or human history in regard to civilized values. Zionism is not just racism, it is evil incarnate - manifested daily in banal abuses of power, indiscriminate violence, theft, and dehumanization of anyone who gets in the way of their racist philosophy. It's amazing only that an America that claims to have deeply internalized the lessons of the Holocaust can completely ignore what the precursors of the Holocaust were when it comes to Palestinians and Arabs.
-
- +1
-
-
written by mondo, October 04, 2009
Oh, this is so great. It reminds me of a story printed in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles written by a young Jewish student who attended her first AIPAC conference and was shocked at the bloodlust and propaganda being portrayed on huge video screens that juxtaposed Ahmadinejad with Hitler over and over again. Very similiar accounting of the insanity of jewish racism, ignorace, and just plain zionist gone wild.
-
- +8
-
-
written by gary, October 05, 2009
"If evil has a face in this world, it is an Israeli bureaucrat" haha yes, defly that is the face of evil! he made you wait for hours! Is a suicide bomber who kills 40 civilians at a Pakistani mosque or an Iraqi market or an Israeli pizza parlor evil? No, what's evil is an Israeli bureaucrat...hhahahhahahaha
-
- -5
-
-
written by Hmmm, December 15, 2009
Funny you should mention Hassan Nassrallah, aren't you kind of proving the point of your meticulous search?
I liked the way you write but it reeks of the same arrogance you accuse the Israeli guards of.
By the way, as a visitor to the USA I have been treated in the same manner more or less at the airport and no, I am not an Arab.
I liked the way you write but it reeks of the same arrogance you accuse the Israeli guards of.
By the way, as a visitor to the USA I have been treated in the same manner more or less at the airport and no, I am not an Arab.
-
- -4
-
-
written by gary, December 16, 2009
I feel sorry for the agony and trouble you went through. I did want to remind you of a few things (i apologize for my english, but i do believe most people's hebrew are worst than my english :> ).
I am for peace, and as an israeli ALWAYS vote for the left-winged peace pursuing parties in the israel political map. But there are many things people don't understand about the situation (which is really bad, and israel doesn't need and by the way-doesn't want to control the territories, the problem today is that if israel leaves - hell will break loose - see gaza since after israel left, or lebanon - as a peace activist i feel really bad to say everytime the arabs got a chance in those areas- they used it to convince the world they don't want peace but want israel off the map).
1. No wonder Jordanians can be easy on security, there has been ZERO cases of israelis committing terror acts against the arab nations around them throughout all times. Thousdans died in Israel because of terror attacks.
2. Israel left the gaza strip in 2004, which started an huge wave of terror and missles still being launched at israel from there.
3. Israel is contantly in a state of wars with about countries comprised of around 750m people (which declared war on israel in 1948 and never canceled it - save for a few countries like egyps,jorand and I do believe Morroco and Oman canceled the official state of war, the rest are still in it), billions are being invested in terror infrastructure to fight israel.
4. Many western world (usually naive) people were exploited by terrorists to be used to perform terrorist acts against israel.
5. any israeli who will fall into the hands of palestinians is usually subject to a terrible lynch, not stale cookies (an as an ex israeli i think i know these cookies,they are considered ok by many israelis, although i can undersatnd you turning them down,they meant well by offering you them).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Ramallah_lynching
(i wonder why the peace loving nice palestinian is waving his bloody hands in triumphe outside the window?)
these were israelis attacked INSIDE a palesitinian police station, I wonder why people keep comparing israel and the arab countries? this is like comparing the US an afganistan.
-
- +3
-
-
written by Bz, December 16, 2009
Are you interested in furthering a specific agenda or in uncovering the truth? I'm not here to tell you the truth, but it is out there. If you were really truthful to yourself, and would properly consider the fact that there are ZERO Israeli terrorists, I don't really know how you could truly consider Israel all the evil you say it is. You didn't even want to visit Israel. You wanted Ramallah. Please don't judge before you really know what's going on. That is if you are really interested in truth. Otherwise, you're doing great - there are 1.2 billion Arabs who agree with you about us 6 million "evil" Israeli's. That 1 Israeli per 200 Arabs. A real threat. We'd love to continue spending 40% of our GDP on "oppressive" security. I mean common, we're all so rich we can afford it right? We've got nothing better to do with our time.
I have no doubt you experienced discomfort and pain through your ordeal. I wish it weren't so. The question is what caused the whole situation in the first place. An OBJECTIVE pursuer of truth would not have written what you did.
I have no doubt you experienced discomfort and pain through your ordeal. I wish it weren't so. The question is what caused the whole situation in the first place. An OBJECTIVE pursuer of truth would not have written what you did.
-
- +0
-
-
written by Oren, December 16, 2009
There are "zero" Israeli terrorists? 
This country was founded by terrorists!! What do you call the ethnic cleansing of a million people? Charity?
How about Baruch Goldstein? I guess he wasn't Israeli seeing as he immigrated from Brooklyn just a few years earlier.
How about the colonists who burn trees, cars, shoot Palestinians and throw Molotov cocktails into homes while the IDF stands by and does nothing?
This country was founded by terrorists!! What do you call the ethnic cleansing of a million people? Charity?
How about Baruch Goldstein? I guess he wasn't Israeli seeing as he immigrated from Brooklyn just a few years earlier.
How about the colonists who burn trees, cars, shoot Palestinians and throw Molotov cocktails into homes while the IDF stands by and does nothing?
-
- +0
-
-
written by Oren, December 16, 2009
There are "zero" Israeli terrorists? Sure, because as everyone knows, those who seek to uncover the truth in pursuit of justice are "furthering an agenda".
This country was founded by terrorists!! What do you call the ethnic cleansing of a million people? Charity?
How about Baruch Goldstein? I guess he wasn't Israeli seeing as he immigrated from Brooklyn just a few years earlier.
How about the colonists who burn trees, cars, shoot Palestinians and throw Molotov cocktails into homes while the IDF stands by and does nothing?
Sure, because as everyone knows, those who seek to uncover the truth in pursuit of justice are "furthering an agenda". This country was founded by terrorists!! What do you call the ethnic cleansing of a million people? Charity?
How about Baruch Goldstein? I guess he wasn't Israeli seeing as he immigrated from Brooklyn just a few years earlier.
How about the colonists who burn trees, cars, shoot Palestinians and throw Molotov cocktails into homes while the IDF stands by and does nothing?
-
- +2
-
-
written by Tamar, December 16, 2009
I am sorry you had such a difficult time trying to get to Ramallah. However, your post contains a glaring mistruth. It has to do with the cookies--the "stale" cookies you "could not eat" because they contained lard. If they were stale, it means they were unwrapped. Which means you could not have read the ingredient list on the wrapper. Which means you could not have known they contained lard. Either way, Israeli cookies DO NOT CONTAIN LARD because they are not kosher! Why did you say they contained lard? I am truly troubled by the fact that you said this, because if you lied about the reason you went hungry, then you possibly lied about other experiences you had as well...
-
- -3
-
-
written by Marc, December 16, 2009
What you have experienced is very common, and indeed this is the face of evil.
Let's treat Israelis the way they treat foreigners : only boycott will bring down their racist, colonialist policies.
As for the contention that there are zero Israeli terrorists, Israel was founded by terrorists : just go to the Lehi and Irgoun museums in Tel Aviv. And the terrorist leaders became prime ministers (Begin, Shamir Sharon, etc..) and kept doing the same.
Israelis were the first to murder a UN official (Bernadotte), because he was trying to find a reasonable solution for Jerusalem.
And so on
Let's treat Israelis the way they treat foreigners : only boycott will bring down their racist, colonialist policies.
As for the contention that there are zero Israeli terrorists, Israel was founded by terrorists : just go to the Lehi and Irgoun museums in Tel Aviv. And the terrorist leaders became prime ministers (Begin, Shamir Sharon, etc..) and kept doing the same.
Israelis were the first to murder a UN official (Bernadotte), because he was trying to find a reasonable solution for Jerusalem.
And so on
-
- -1
-
-
written by David, December 16, 2009
As both an Israeli and a Jew, one can likely take many of my opinions for granted. However as one born outside of Israel and one who is not a Zionist, over the years I've learnt a lot about both sides...
This article is very well written, but is unfortunately a whitewash of emotive language, inaccurate imagery and well... misperceptions. I'm sorry to say it, I know it's going to cop a lot of flack, but lets look at a few basic points:
1. "la falastiniyeen!" means "for the Palestinians" not "No Palestinians" Lets not put hateful words in anyone's mouth when what's really going on is simple misinterpretation.
2. Israel's borders are patrolled by Israel's army... NOT teenagers in skinny jeans. In all likelihood you were stopped by an 18 or more likely 19 year old girl, wearing tight khakis... given that soldiers are punished for being out of uniform like in any other army.
3. Joking with border security no matter where you are, particularly cynically or sarcastically is rarely a good call... I as an Australian have been interrogated by AUSTRALIAN border security because I had come from Israel and joked with the border guards about my being middle eastern. Just not a fantastic idea... Not in Australia, Not in the US and not in Israel... attitude does not get you far in these situations
4. You being "just an American girl" is obviously selling yourself and your gender short... you are no less capable as a writer than any man, no less capable as a journalist, no less capable as a student and no less capable as a terrorist. Suicide bombers in Israel have come in all shapes, sizes, colours and genders... saying "well I'm just a college girl" is a cop out and you know it
5. As previously mentioned, lard is unlikely to appear on the list of ingredients of any biscuits you'll find in Israel... what with jews having a strict no pig policy and commercial lard being rendered primarily from pigs. Butter is far more common.
Your story is awful, I'd hate to have it happen to me... and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone... but at the end of the day, when you live in Israel there are people who are with you, people who are against you and people who are just passing through... the problem is that when people who are just passing through seem to be unusually interested in the people who are against you, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference without really understanding a person... and the border patrol doesn't really have the time to truly understand you (which is a shame in and of itself because you'd realise that they're generally very nice people who are just doing what they have been taught to do to protect the country in which they were born and the people they love).
This article is very well written, but is unfortunately a whitewash of emotive language, inaccurate imagery and well... misperceptions. I'm sorry to say it, I know it's going to cop a lot of flack, but lets look at a few basic points:
1. "la falastiniyeen!" means "for the Palestinians" not "No Palestinians" Lets not put hateful words in anyone's mouth when what's really going on is simple misinterpretation.
2. Israel's borders are patrolled by Israel's army... NOT teenagers in skinny jeans. In all likelihood you were stopped by an 18 or more likely 19 year old girl, wearing tight khakis... given that soldiers are punished for being out of uniform like in any other army.
3. Joking with border security no matter where you are, particularly cynically or sarcastically is rarely a good call... I as an Australian have been interrogated by AUSTRALIAN border security because I had come from Israel and joked with the border guards about my being middle eastern. Just not a fantastic idea... Not in Australia, Not in the US and not in Israel... attitude does not get you far in these situations
4. You being "just an American girl" is obviously selling yourself and your gender short... you are no less capable as a writer than any man, no less capable as a journalist, no less capable as a student and no less capable as a terrorist. Suicide bombers in Israel have come in all shapes, sizes, colours and genders... saying "well I'm just a college girl" is a cop out and you know it
5. As previously mentioned, lard is unlikely to appear on the list of ingredients of any biscuits you'll find in Israel... what with jews having a strict no pig policy and commercial lard being rendered primarily from pigs. Butter is far more common.
Your story is awful, I'd hate to have it happen to me... and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone... but at the end of the day, when you live in Israel there are people who are with you, people who are against you and people who are just passing through... the problem is that when people who are just passing through seem to be unusually interested in the people who are against you, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference without really understanding a person... and the border patrol doesn't really have the time to truly understand you (which is a shame in and of itself because you'd realise that they're generally very nice people who are just doing what they have been taught to do to protect the country in which they were born and the people they love).
-
- +1
-
-
written by SR, December 22, 2009
I spent two summers teaching at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. My first trip into Ben Gurion I was held up in security at Tel-Aviv for 12 hours, despite paperwork from the University explaining the purpose of my visit along w/ contact info for my sponsor, without access to any food and only a water fountain to use.
But what really disturbed me is that there was a family of American-Palestinians, going to visit their relations, who were in the security holding area when I got there and there when I left – and they were not provided anything beyond this same water fountain either.
There is overt intimidation to discourage certain people from going to the Israel. I appreciate that there are very real security concerns, but this is way too often used as an excuse to forward morally bankrupt political, social, religious, and ethnic agendas.
I have many Israeli & Jewish friends, but my first experience in Israel is only one of many sad truths about the land.
But what really disturbed me is that there was a family of American-Palestinians, going to visit their relations, who were in the security holding area when I got there and there when I left – and they were not provided anything beyond this same water fountain either.
There is overt intimidation to discourage certain people from going to the Israel. I appreciate that there are very real security concerns, but this is way too often used as an excuse to forward morally bankrupt political, social, religious, and ethnic agendas.
I have many Israeli & Jewish friends, but my first experience in Israel is only one of many sad truths about the land.
-
- +0
-
-
Write comment
