Saturday, April 22, 2017
I'm packed and ready to leave. On Thursday, a group of us went to Nosha (really nice cafe) after the last concert of the festival. People tend to have a little goodbye dinner or drinks at a cafe when they leave. Now, there are starting to be a lot of people leaving. The festival is over and Ramadan starts on May 26. Project Hope closes for Ramadan.
People keep asking me if I am ready to leave. I am ready. I'm always ready at the end of a trip because I know it's about to end. My mental clock was set long ago. I'm not going home for another week, though. I will go to Jerusalem today. Then, from Tuesday to Thursday, I am going to Jordan. I booked a trip where they will pick me up at a hotel in Jerusalem and bring me back there. Then I fly out of Tel Aviv on April 30.
I'm hoping not to have problems at the airport, but others have had problems. Elizabeth is German and only 22. She has visited Israel several times before and has a family in Tel Aviv that she is good friends with. But the Israelis found her Arabic books. They questioned her for two hours and also did a full-body search - made her take her pants off. She was crying. I can't imagine what they needed to see in her pants. They have their machines to look for everything. I'm sure it's only to humiliate and intimidate.
Andrew is of Palestinian descent and left here for Istanbul. He is going to take a course there to give him a British qualification for teaching English world-wide. They gave him a much harder time. I'm pasting below his message about what happened. Hakim says they gave Andrew hassles because he is an Arab. But what's the excuse for Elizabeth?
Just a last ma salam and update. On the bus to Tel Aviv I got removed at a checkpoint and given the once over for about an hour or so (clearly they were targeting my overt Australianess), including bag and body check and all the questions about why I was here for three months, where I'd come from today, what I was doing here, if I knew anyone from here etc. On learning that I was mainly a tourist, they asked to see my tourist photos, of which I had plentiful alibis. At the airport again I was given the once over three times - at baggage drop off (10 minutes), bag screening (30 minutes) and for the last time when going through passport control (an hour), where I was asked to wait because of my family background. I was questioned by the passport control officer's supervisor as well as her supervisor in the general area. Again they pressed the point of why I'd been here for three months and where I'd visited, if I was volunteering, where I was learning Arabic, why I came to Nablus to learn Arabic when I could have gone anywhere else etc etc, if I'd attended any demonstrations, if I knew anyone in Palestine or Israel, where I was going? They asked if I had any local Israeli or Palestinian SIM cards and did a search on my smart phone and questioned me about the local Palestinian contact that came up in the search. They took down my local Australian phone number too. They then went off for 30 minutes never to be seen again. Someone else returned my passport with an exit visa. khalas... It was difficult to take them all seriously. Like kids playing dress up...or like they were attempting to 'swede' a bad Hollywood spy film (you need to have seen the film Be Kind Rewind to get the 'swede' reference). Anyhow, I think I passed their series of silly tests, as I got my exit visa, I think without any bans, and without a beating or waterboarding too (sadly, as I was looking forward to this experience).
Anyway, Ja'far and Saad are coming at 11 to walk me to the place where you get a shared taxi to Ramallah. Then I will get a bus to Jerusalem.
I'm packed and ready to leave. On Thursday, a group of us went to Nosha (really nice cafe) after the last concert of the festival. People tend to have a little goodbye dinner or drinks at a cafe when they leave. Now, there are starting to be a lot of people leaving. The festival is over and Ramadan starts on May 26. Project Hope closes for Ramadan.
People keep asking me if I am ready to leave. I am ready. I'm always ready at the end of a trip because I know it's about to end. My mental clock was set long ago. I'm not going home for another week, though. I will go to Jerusalem today. Then, from Tuesday to Thursday, I am going to Jordan. I booked a trip where they will pick me up at a hotel in Jerusalem and bring me back there. Then I fly out of Tel Aviv on April 30.
I'm hoping not to have problems at the airport, but others have had problems. Elizabeth is German and only 22. She has visited Israel several times before and has a family in Tel Aviv that she is good friends with. But the Israelis found her Arabic books. They questioned her for two hours and also did a full-body search - made her take her pants off. She was crying. I can't imagine what they needed to see in her pants. They have their machines to look for everything. I'm sure it's only to humiliate and intimidate.
Andrew is of Palestinian descent and left here for Istanbul. He is going to take a course there to give him a British qualification for teaching English world-wide. They gave him a much harder time. I'm pasting below his message about what happened. Hakim says they gave Andrew hassles because he is an Arab. But what's the excuse for Elizabeth?
Just a last ma salam and update. On the bus to Tel Aviv I got removed at a checkpoint and given the once over for about an hour or so (clearly they were targeting my overt Australianess), including bag and body check and all the questions about why I was here for three months, where I'd come from today, what I was doing here, if I knew anyone from here etc. On learning that I was mainly a tourist, they asked to see my tourist photos, of which I had plentiful alibis. At the airport again I was given the once over three times - at baggage drop off (10 minutes), bag screening (30 minutes) and for the last time when going through passport control (an hour), where I was asked to wait because of my family background. I was questioned by the passport control officer's supervisor as well as her supervisor in the general area. Again they pressed the point of why I'd been here for three months and where I'd visited, if I was volunteering, where I was learning Arabic, why I came to Nablus to learn Arabic when I could have gone anywhere else etc etc, if I'd attended any demonstrations, if I knew anyone in Palestine or Israel, where I was going? They asked if I had any local Israeli or Palestinian SIM cards and did a search on my smart phone and questioned me about the local Palestinian contact that came up in the search. They took down my local Australian phone number too. They then went off for 30 minutes never to be seen again. Someone else returned my passport with an exit visa. khalas... It was difficult to take them all seriously. Like kids playing dress up...or like they were attempting to 'swede' a bad Hollywood spy film (you need to have seen the film Be Kind Rewind to get the 'swede' reference). Anyhow, I think I passed their series of silly tests, as I got my exit visa, I think without any bans, and without a beating or waterboarding too (sadly, as I was looking forward to this experience).
Anyway, Ja'far and Saad are coming at 11 to walk me to the place where you get a shared taxi to Ramallah. Then I will get a bus to Jerusalem.
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