Last week I left the West Bank to visit a friend in Amman, Jordan. Little did I know that this was the last time I would be in Palestine. Upon return last Wednesday Israeli immigration denied my visa application to re-enter the West Bank. They believed that I was pro-Palestinian.
The manager of the hostel in Amman that I stayed in told me that this is common for people re-entering the West Bank through Jordan, and I think this is true for two reasons. First, if you are boycotting Israel Jordan is the logical place to enter the West Bank because you are avoiding Israel's airport. Israeli security suspects that people who enter the West Bank through Jordan (as opposed to Tel Aviv) are more likely to be pro-Palestinian. In retrospect I should have entered through Tel Aviv. Whether you enter through Tel Aviv or Jordan you are entering occupied Palestinian lands. Also the West Bank is about an hour drive away from Tel Aviv so you can still respect the boycott if you fly into Tel Aviv.
The hostel manager in Amman told me that tourists returning to the West Bank from Jordan are more likely to be turned away because they have seen the occupation in person. Once someone sees Israeli apartheid and the occupation even from a foreigner's eyes they tend to be more aware of how racist Israeli society is. They may not put it in those words yet it is there. Israel's occupation cannot allow people to believe that Palestinians are human beings.
Due to my abrupt exit from Palestine I have a slight change in my blogging schedule. My roommate in Ramallah is sending back my personal belongings, which includes my camera and my computer. Without these items I cannot upload my pictures or the blog posts that I have already written. So I will continue to write up blog posts and once I receive my camera and computer I will hopefully begin posting several times per week. My apologies for taking so long with the posts. I will do my best to capture what I saw and to give the reader a sense of the occupation.
No comments:
Post a Comment