Entering Israel

Okie doke, here's my first blog post. I only really did this because I thought I needed the registration for something else; clearly I am not an internet aficionado, but I will do my best. Friends of mine may notice more than a passing similarity to the e-mail I sent last week...

First of all, very sorry to everyone that I didn't get the chance to say hello or goodbye to during the past three weeks, I am terrible at such things so please remember that it's because I'm lazy. Which makes it alright doesn't it?

Just in case I'm so slack not to have told you yet, I was back in Britain for three weeks after three months in Palestine. Now I'm back out here, in Beit Sahour, which is a relatively small town near Bethlehem, in the South of the West Bank.

I arrived safe and sound on Sunday afternoon, after a long flight sat next to a fat man. Mainly because of the fat man, and the way he spilled over on to my seat, I didn't get any sleep on the flight, so on arrival I was more tired than I'd have preferred, bearing in mind what lay in store. Landing in Ben Gurion airport (near Tel Aviv, which is pretty much half way up Israel's Mediterranean coast) can make the nerves jangle a wee bit, not due to any sense of shoddy flight procedures, or cobbled runways you understand; you won't find a more state of the art or safety conscious airport on the planet. It's just that each time I've passed through the gleaming new terminal 3 I've felt incredibly intimidated. This is because, despite posing no threat to Israeli security in any way shape or form (perhaps with the exception of my dress-sense), in order to oil past the Border Control Officers and other looming security mechanisms, I have to lie.

I know of many internationals that have made the mistake of letting slip the fact that they intend to visit Israel's occupied territories. As a result they have been denied entry into the country, for no other reason than they wish to visit an area that a fair and democratic state happens to hold in the grip of military occupation. Let me add that I have many friends who have been interrogated at length (hours) concerning their reasons for visiting the country, and these friends of mine have been made to feel quite criminal as they avoid the fact that they plan to visit Palestine, despite their intentions (like mine) being only concerned with helping to bring about non-violent and just solutions to the problems facing the region. One naturally wonders why the State of Israel doesn't want people to go to Palestine…

I recently heard that there are currently only eight foreign journalists working in Gaza. Granted, it's not an ideal holiday destination, but surely a democratic state would support the efforts of the free media?

So anyway, it is within this arena of suspicion that I shuffle along the moving walkways to the pass-port control booths, and I wait with clammy-hands for my turn at the Perspex shield. At last it's my turn, and to my great relief (and later to the amused bafflement of my friend James, who last week spent seven hours held at gunpoint by the Israeli Military when trying to enter the country), it was a breeze. The young girl behind the counter quizzed me briefly about my recent movements in and out of Israel, I fed her my story, and she let me pass with a cheery smile and "good to have you back."

So I'm in, and in case you're wondering, the story I fed her is not so far from the truth. I said I was volunteering in Jerusalem with the East Jerusalem YMCA, a Christian organization which works towards building a tolerant society based on equality for all. What I'm actually doing is volunteering in Beit Sahour for The Joint Advocacy Initiative (as in jointly between the EJ YMCA and the YWCA of Palestine).

http://www.jai-pal.org/

I have been shamefully slack in relating to all my friends exactly what I'm doing here and what is going on. Essentially I'm here because of a civil rights issue which, for whatever reason, is going largely unreported in the Western media. I hope to contribute to the swelling non-violent civil-rights movement in Palestine and spread some information where currently misinformation prevails. I plan to do this while sitting on a very high horse.

But really, hopefully I'll be more proactive about sending home news.

In the meantime, to get the ball rolling, here are a few videos I made over the past few months (sorry to everyone I've already sent these to). This is the kind of thing I want to do more of now I'm back here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxZEOKzUixQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEKKpiegnwk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYWHUQUx81Y (part one)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzG-WBP_PkM (part two)

These all have their flaws, but with luck I'll be sending you better ones soon.