At Ben Gurion 'Palestine' is a four-letter word
Nejwa Ali
Concluding my first week in Palestine after a seven year absence has been emotionally and mentally challenging. In addition to spending time with family, I was full of optimism, hoping to notice a progression in Palestinian-Israeli relations. Unfortunately, some things haven’t changed.
Traveling to Palestine is convoluted in itself. Due to Israel’s continuous military occupation, Palestine has not been able to govern itself independently, let alone establish its own airport. Therefore, the two major points of entry are through Amman, Jordan and Tel Aviv, Israel, neither of which are ideal. The Jordanian route is usually a last resort, infamous for its exhausting delays at the Allenby Bridge, in comparison to equally unattractive prolonged delays via Israel. Still, any person with Palestinian identification is prohibited from traveling through the Ben Gurion Airport (Israel). As a Palestinian-American citizen, I’m fortunate to be able to avoid Jordan yet face plenty of harassment in Israel.
Notorious for treating passengers of Arab descent with excessive questioning, searches and delays, I remained patient as I anxiously awaited my turn to pass Israeli security. Finally, the security official glanced at my passport, read my name aloud and then started to question me about my grandfather’s first name, last name and place of birth. Once I mentioned Palestine, she immediately directed me to go to the waiting area for additional questioning.
