Last Post, and Eight Hours with Israeli Security

1/16

I messed up the post before, it should be for Jan 3, not Jan 4.

Haven't written for a long time, so I'll summarize by date. But here's a quick executive summary:

Was never let into Gaza; met a friend at the US Embassy with whom I traveled to Jerusalem; was held at the Israel-Egypt border for eight hours (approximately doubling my previous record if I remember correctly); left Jerusalem and went to Dahab, a beautiful town on the Gulf of Aqaba, came back to Cairo; waiting for my flight out of Egypt the day after tomorrow. The eight hour holding at the border might prompt a third rule of human rights work, even though I wasn't going to Israel for any purpose other than seeing friends: if your middle name sounds Iranian, get rid of it.

1/4: woke up and went to the American Embassy (for the third time), thankfully it's walking distance from Sara Inn Hostel. I told the American Citizens Service (ACS) Chief what the soldier told me at Rafah, that a new rule says foreigners need the Ministry of Interior's approval to go to Gaza. She looked confused and to my absolute astonishment said she would call the MoI and ask them. She did, then came back and told me they had said they have nothing to do with it, and that I need to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hoping to extend this new helpfulness I asked her if she could contact them. She gave me a dirty look and went to do something, then came back a few minutes later with a print out from the MFA's website with their phone number. Thanks.

I called the MFA and they said I needed to contact the Director of Palestine Affairs at the MFA, and gave me his phone number. I called for about half an hour before getting through, and then explained what I was doing and why I wanted to go to Gaza. The lady said the process is very simple now: have your embassy send a fax with two documents. One, a copy of your passport. And two, a letter of explanation, not necessarily from the Embassy itself, explaining why you are going. Approval takes 1-2 weeks.

Sweet! That couldn't be easier, although the timing will be very close. ACS closes at 11 am, so I had to wait until the next day to go back.

1/5: Return to ACS in the morning, meet the ACS Chief again. This is my fourth trip to the Embassy. I told the ACS Chief that I had spoken to the MFA yesterday and that what they need from the Embassy is a letter and my passport faxed from the Embassy to them, and gave her the phone number.

"You're not going to like my response," she said. "But we don't provide that service."

Excuse me? I asked. You don't help Americans communicate with the Egyptian government? (Deja vu all over again, I know).

"We do, but since we don't recommend travel to Gaza we don't offer that service."

It's not a service ma'am, you're the American Embassy and I need to communicate with the Egyptian government, and you need to help me do that.

"We don't do that."

That's ridiculous, yes you do. I have signed the waiver stating I understand the risks and now I need you to provide me with standard consular services.

"We don't do that."

The American Embassy in Egypt doesn't provide standard consular services to Americans in Egypt?

"Like I said, we don't recommend travel to Gaza, and so we don't assist Americans in going to Gaza."

I'm not asking for your assistance or approval in going to Gaza, I am asking you to fax a letter to this phone number which the Government of Egypt has requested from the American Embassy.

"I'm sorry, but we don't recommend travel to Gaza."

I think most people who know me know that I'm a pretty calm person, but it's a good thing there was reinforced glass between this woman and me. If there hadn't been a small child in the room I'm pretty sure I would have started yelling. Which also isn't really fair, it's not like the ACS Chief made this decision, she's just doing what she's told by the State Department.

Regardless, this idiotic exchange continued for about ten minutes. When the woman realized I wasn't going to leave without her doing something she said, "Okay, I'll take this to my higherups and ask them what we can do with it." I said thank you and apologized for getting upset with her before.

When will I hear about a decision?

"Oh, later today."

Good, here's my mobile number in Egypt. Will you call me to let me know what will happen?

"Absolutely."

You can guess whether or not she called.

1/6: Back to the Embassy, this time determined not to get upset no matter what the ACS Chief tells me.

"Okay, we've made a decision. We're going to grommet a copy of your passport to your affidavit."

What does grommet mean?

"We'll attach a copy of your passport to your affidavit."

And then you'll fax it over to the MFA?

"No."

Can I take it over to the MFA?

"I don't know."

And that's the best you can do?

"Yes."

Grommet away.

I knew this was bullshit, quite obviously non-Egyptians can't take papers into an Egyptian governmental office, you need your embassy to communicate with a foreign government. A "grommet" turned out to be two little golden rings that attach something to something else. Quite clearly this is useless.

While I was walking out I heard a tall blond white girl talking about Gaza as well, saying something about "my aid" and not wanting it to fall into the wrong hands in Gaza, meaning into Hamas hands.

As I was walking out she said "sorry, are you trying to go to Gaza too?"

Yes, but the American Embassy is blocking me, and I'm guessing you, from going. Why don't we talk about it outside?

When she kept getting the runaround and finally gave up, she and I headed to a coffee shop called Pottery Cafe in Tahrir Square, a few blocks from the Embassy. Her name's Julia, she's a recent college grad from Jersey who studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo for five months, so she knows the city pretty well and speaks enough Arabic to get by (she's also a 6 foot tall blond, definitely stands out here). She had just returned from Gaza after taking some tens of thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid, mostly school supplies. She had been forced out before all of the aid could be delivered but thankfully she has international friends who'll finish distributing it for her. The money was raised from a mosque and a school in New Jersey, so they definitely need documentation that it was given to anyone but Hamas. We called the Director of Palestine Affairs and arranged a meeting with his office at 1 pm.

We met with a fairly young guy who told us explicitly that no foreigners would be allowed into Gaza from Egypt until at least February.

After that she took me to a part of town called Zemalek, it's where some of the embassies are located and so has several upscale places to smoke sheesha and drink tea. We went to another Pottery Cafe, apparently it's a chain in Cairo, and let out our frustrations on some good sheesha and food.

We got along very well right away, and so decided to try to go to Jerusalem to see friends. I won't write in detail about the trip to Jerusalem, anyone can ask me why in person.

We decided to get the overnight bus to Taba, an Egyptian resort town on the border with Israel where you can cross by land. Julia was worried that she wouldn't be admitted because she had just been in Gaza. I told her that she'd be fine, but that I would have serious problems crossing and that we'd be held at the border for a long time if she traveled with me. She didn't believe me.

The overnight bus to Taba was definitely boring. At one point the bus stopped for almost an hour (and it's a more than 5 hour ride anyway), we couldn't figure out why other than that ambulances were coming up on the side of the road. As we got closer to the accident we noticed that there was cauliflower all over the road. Then we saw it: a large dump truck carrying cauliflower had jackknifed, spilling cauliflower all over the road, and a bus identical to ours had slammed into the truck from behind. It didn't look like anyone was hurt too badly, and the only reason it took so long to pass was because a billion Egyptian men had decided to get out of their cars and walk around aimlessly.

We got to Taba, crossed through Egyptian security in about ten minutes, and then waited for the border to open. Around 7 am we got in line at Israeli security. The instant the woman saw my passport she got on her radio and two security agents rushed over.

"Where is this name from?" they asked.

It's my middle name, it's from my dad.

"What is the origin of your name?"

It's Indian.

"No, this name", they said, pointing to my middle name (Yazdi, very Iranian sounding).

It's my middle name, from my dad.

"Where was your father born?"

My father was born in India (technically true) and my mom was born in Pakistan.

"Okay, wait here."

They brought over an Iranian Jewish security woman to talk to me for about twenty minutes:

"I must ask you some security questions."

No problem, I understand.

"Why are you coming to Israel?"

Because my friend Julia has never seen Jerusalem and since I lived here I wanted to show it to her.

"Why were you in Egypt?"

I was doing research (surprisingly they never asked about my research again).

"What do you do?"

I'm a medical student and a student at the Harvard School of Public Health in the United States.

"A doctor?"

Almost.

"Have you been to Israel before?"

Like I said, yes.

"Why?"

I lived in Israel for eight months after college and I worked in a hospital in Hebron for six weeks.

"Why?"

Why what?

"Why did you work in a hospital in Hebron?"

Because I am a medical student.

"But why?"

I don't understand the question.

"Why in Hebron? Why not in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem?"

Because the West Bank is a third world country.

"Ah, I see. And why were you in Israel before?"

I had just graduated from college and wanted to see Israel.

"Do you know anybody in Israel?"

Of course, I lived here for almost a year.

"Who do you know?"

You want me to tell you every person I know in Israel?

"Yes."

That could take a long time.

"Okay, do you know Arabs?"

Yes.

"Who?"

I'm going to invoke my Fifth Amendment Right against self-incrimination and skip over part of the conversation here. The last question was my favorite though:

"Do you have any weapons in your bag?"

The reader should note that there was no actual security concern, as the only bag they searched was my backpack. They never opened my huge duffel bag. Julia had a book by Edward Said that they examined in detail, while my two books, both highly critical of Israel and Israeli "mythistory" were written by Jews with Jewish names (Sara Roy and Shlomo Sand), and they showed no interest in them.

After this I thought to myself "well, that wasn't bad, maybe we'll get through here relatively quickly!" Clearly I haven't been through Israeli security for too long.

When we got to passport control I realized Julia had a "security cleared" stamp on the piece of paper they give you to go through with, but I didn't have any stamp. I handed the lady my passport and she repeated all of the questions from before. "You wait here now." Great.

I'm not going to go through the whole miserable experience that followed, but eight hours later I was admitted to the State of Israel. Thankfully the Taba border crossing is on the Gulf of Aqaba and they have a little deck that you can sit out on.

I will just note, however, the character of the questions I was asked: who do you know in the West Bank, who do you know in Gaza, and give us their contact information. That was exactly all I was asked. Quite obviously, there was no reason for an eight hour delay. At the end of it they made me sign a document promising I would not enter "areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority" and stated I would be deported from Israel and barred from reentry for ten years if I violated that ban. Hence I won't write anything more about my time in Israel and Jerusalem.

Anyway, after having been awake since 7 am on Jan 6, having taken the overnight bus to Taba, and having sat at Israeli security for eight hours (while Julia kept exclaiming "this is such fucking racism!", I didn't understand why it surprised her), Julia and I jumped a bus to Eilat for several more hours, finally getting into Jerusalem at 10 pm on January 7. We stayed at the Jerusalem Hotel, right next to the American Colony Hotel. Jerusalem Hotel is one of the most beautiful hotels I've ever stayed at, I highly recommend it. Expensive, but at that point neither of us cared. The restaurant attached to the hotel is a favorite hangout for wealthy Palestinians and internationals.

1/11-1/14: Julia and I went to a beautiful and rustic Egyptian town named Dahab, it's apparently one of the premiere places for scuba diving in the world. Saltwater showers, fantastic food, and I bought the most awesome sheesha for about $80 with two boxes of coals, fifteen boxes of tobacco of all sorts of crazy flavors, cleaning brushes, etc. And the guy gave me a half hour lesson on how to prepare a sheesha. Everyone now has a reason to come to our place! The Sinai Peninsula is an amazingly beautiful part of the world, by the way, I highly recommend it.

1/15: We flew from Sharm el-Sheikh to Cairo and went back to Sara Inn Hostel, the guys there were happy to see me again. Cairo remains as crazy as it was before.

1/16: Dropped Julia off at the airport, having been with her pretty much 24/7 for the past eleven days I'm definitely bored by myself. We didn't sleep much last night so I took a nap, was supposed to get up at 11 but definitely got up at 4 pm, sleeping tonight is going to involve diphenhydramine...