<   Report One:   "What is the Purpose of Your Trip?" >

July 20, 2011
Jerusalem

CLICK HERE TO READ THE AFRICAN HERITAGE DELEGATION'S
STATEMENT AND FINDINGS

This delegation traveled concurrently with the
Today's Youth, Tomorrow's Leaders Delegation> > >


We invite delegation participants to comment on and react to the experiences they have during our Israel/Palestine delegations in written Trip Reports. Individual delegates contribute pieces to these reports.

Reports are not comprehensive accounts of every meeting or experience, but impressions of those things that most impact individuals.  Trip reports to not necessarily reflect the views of Interfaith Peace-Builders, trip leaders, or delegation partner organizations.  We hope you enjoy reading and we encourage you to share these reports with others.


“What is the purpose of your trip?”
The African Heritage Delegation enters Israel/Palestine

Today the historic African Heritage delegation of IFPB stepped on to Palestinian soil. We are joined by the “Today’s Youth, Tomorrow’s Leaders” young peoples’ delegation co-sponsored by IFPB and AFSC. We arrived in the Ben-Gurion airport in Tel-Aviv and in general we didn’t have an inordinate amount of obstacles to entering the country.

At the same time, a few of us were targeted for special questioning that made for a very tense atmosphere. Given that Palestinian solidarity activists had conducted a “Flytilla” civil disobedience delegation to Israel last week, we knew that the security would be heightened.

Avery, a member of our delegation, realized he was being observed on our flight from the UK to Tel-Aviv. A man sat next to him that asked him a lot of questions about our trip and our reasoning for coming to Israel. When Avery asked this man if he had any suggestions for where to go he replied, “Ask your trip leader,” making it clear that his questions were not friendly airplane chatter.

Then, as soon as I got off the plane, an airport security agent pulled me aside and grilled me: “What is the purpose of your trip?…Where are you going?...What is the purpose of your stay?…Which locations are you going to?...Why are you here?”

If I had answered, “To help bring about peace and justice,” I might well have been deported. So I just said, “To see the Holy Land,” over and over again. She eventually let me go join up with the rest of the delegation.

When I got to passport control, the first question the woman asked me was, “What religion are you?” After a few questions she decided I needed further interrogation. She pulled me out of line, took my passport, and led me to a back room. She emerged a few minutes later with a man who approached me speaking in Arabic. I told him I didn’t understand what he was saying, and he replied, “Are you sure?”

Once it was established that I didn’t speak Arabic, the woman then began going through the questions again, “Why are you here, where are you going, how long are you going to be here, etc…”

Fortunately, the Jewish leader of the Youth delegation was by my side during this round of questioning. She explained that the purpose of our trip was to see the Holy Land. Then when she explained that she had studied in Israel and knew my father, they ceased questioning me and allowed me to pass.

Getting on our bus was a relief, but I could feel the tension in the group grow again as our guide began to explain what we were seeing out of the window. He explained that Israeli license plates were all yellow and Palestinian license plates were green and white. He told us that we would not see any of the green and white plates on the road we were taking because Palestinians would be subject to relentless harassment by the IDF if they were to travel on this road. He then proceeded to point out roads nearby that disappeared into the hills and told us that Palestinians have to use a separate road network in the region that includes tunnels under the Israeli-only roads. This network of roads often greatly increases travel times.

The apartheid apparatus began to come into focus as we passed through two checkpoints on our way from the airport in Tel-Aviv, saw barbed wire fences lining the highways, and heard the explanation from our guide about the different legal statuses that Palestinians live under, depending on their location.

We made it to our hotel in Jerusalem and I am going to crash soon…We have a tour of the Old City early tomorrow morning.

- Jesse Hagopian

a version of this report was originally posted on Jesse Hagopian's blog

Media interested in interviewing the participants when they return, and groups wanting information about speaking engagements, should contact Interfaith Peace-Builders at media[a]ifpb.org or 415.240.4607.


This delegation is traveling concurrently with the "Today's Youth, Tomorrow's Leaders" Delegation > > >


 

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