| My Palestinian Diary part 1 By Mike Odetalla |
I have just recently returned from a 45 day trip to my homeland of Palestine. I will now start sharing my experiences and
thoughts as I made my journey back home with my wife and 3 children. This was my first visit back home since the outbreak of
the Al-Aqsa Intifada. When I informed my American friends here in the US of my plans to fly to Palestine along with my
family, I was greeted with no small amount of amazement and astonishment as to why I should be visiting such a dangerous
place in the world. My attempts at explaining to them that no matter what was happening in Palestine, it was still “home” and
that I had many family members there fell on deaf ears. They kept suggesting to me such “safe” places as Disney World and
other American distractions to visit.
Upon our arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, some of the Palestinian passengers were met by Israeli security agents on
the ground and taken away separately from the rest of us who boarded a shuttle bus to the terminal. Once there we waited in
line to get our passports stamped and processed. The Jewish passengers breezed through these procedures while the
Palestinians amongst us were asked lengthy and bothersome questions even though we were all “Americans” for the most part.
Once we got through the passport processing area, we were greeted by some young Israeli women who took our passports
and instructed me to gather my bags from the carousel and come back to where they were standing. I took a couple of carts
and gathered my family’s bags and came back to the place as instructed. I waited there along with the rest of the Palestinians
passengers, which included children and some elderly, for about 30 minutes. The young woman who had our passports along
with the rest of the Palestinians in the group just stood there watching as a crowd of us along with our bags began to gather. I
walked up to her and informed her that I had done as she had asked. She ignored me until I raised my voice. She became quite
irritated and told me to stand there and wait until she called for me. I, along with about 20 other Palestinians waited another
hour while she just stood there gabbing away with another young colleague. By then, an El Al flight had landed and there were
quite a few religious Jews making their way between and around us trying to get to their bags. It was then that I heard my first
of what was to be many insults directed at us “Arabs”. As I stood there with my wife and children, after a very long and
tiresome flight, for 90 minutes, an Orthodox Jew, with a clear American accent, walked past us with an air of indignation, and
said rather loudly, “Filthy Arabs”.
I was rather stunned to hear this from a man who was holding a child by the hand and who could just as easily been a German
walking by a group of Jews in another dark place in time. After another 15 minutes of waiting I asked the young woman to give
me our passports. She acted like she could not hear me and handed the passports to a young man who instructed us to follow
him. We followed him the 20 feet or so to where he stopped and instructed us to wait. I informed him that we had been waiting
for almost 2 hours and I wanted to know why we had to wait while everyone else was breezing through. He did not answer me
and walked away. After another 15 minutes or so, he came back and asked me for my passport. I informed him that the young
woman had taken it along with all of the passports of the people who were waiting and that I had seen her hand them to him
and in fact I could recognize my passport in the pile he was holding. He walked away and came back after another 15 minutes,
handed us our passports and told us we were free to take our bags and go. All in all, it had taken us close to 3 hours AFTER
we had landed to make our way out of the airport and our bags were never even opened or looked at. During this entire time,
2 plane loads of non-Arabs, some Jews and others not, had landed and made their way without so much a question or look
from the many “security” people who were all over the terminal…This was my first experience back “home”…Racism and
discrimination…
More later…
Mike Odetalla
7-2003
thoughts as I made my journey back home with my wife and 3 children. This was my first visit back home since the outbreak of
the Al-Aqsa Intifada. When I informed my American friends here in the US of my plans to fly to Palestine along with my
family, I was greeted with no small amount of amazement and astonishment as to why I should be visiting such a dangerous
place in the world. My attempts at explaining to them that no matter what was happening in Palestine, it was still “home” and
that I had many family members there fell on deaf ears. They kept suggesting to me such “safe” places as Disney World and
other American distractions to visit.
Upon our arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, some of the Palestinian passengers were met by Israeli security agents on
the ground and taken away separately from the rest of us who boarded a shuttle bus to the terminal. Once there we waited in
line to get our passports stamped and processed. The Jewish passengers breezed through these procedures while the
Palestinians amongst us were asked lengthy and bothersome questions even though we were all “Americans” for the most part.
Once we got through the passport processing area, we were greeted by some young Israeli women who took our passports
and instructed me to gather my bags from the carousel and come back to where they were standing. I took a couple of carts
and gathered my family’s bags and came back to the place as instructed. I waited there along with the rest of the Palestinians
passengers, which included children and some elderly, for about 30 minutes. The young woman who had our passports along
with the rest of the Palestinians in the group just stood there watching as a crowd of us along with our bags began to gather. I
walked up to her and informed her that I had done as she had asked. She ignored me until I raised my voice. She became quite
irritated and told me to stand there and wait until she called for me. I, along with about 20 other Palestinians waited another
hour while she just stood there gabbing away with another young colleague. By then, an El Al flight had landed and there were
quite a few religious Jews making their way between and around us trying to get to their bags. It was then that I heard my first
of what was to be many insults directed at us “Arabs”. As I stood there with my wife and children, after a very long and
tiresome flight, for 90 minutes, an Orthodox Jew, with a clear American accent, walked past us with an air of indignation, and
said rather loudly, “Filthy Arabs”.
I was rather stunned to hear this from a man who was holding a child by the hand and who could just as easily been a German
walking by a group of Jews in another dark place in time. After another 15 minutes of waiting I asked the young woman to give
me our passports. She acted like she could not hear me and handed the passports to a young man who instructed us to follow
him. We followed him the 20 feet or so to where he stopped and instructed us to wait. I informed him that we had been waiting
for almost 2 hours and I wanted to know why we had to wait while everyone else was breezing through. He did not answer me
and walked away. After another 15 minutes or so, he came back and asked me for my passport. I informed him that the young
woman had taken it along with all of the passports of the people who were waiting and that I had seen her hand them to him
and in fact I could recognize my passport in the pile he was holding. He walked away and came back after another 15 minutes,
handed us our passports and told us we were free to take our bags and go. All in all, it had taken us close to 3 hours AFTER
we had landed to make our way out of the airport and our bags were never even opened or looked at. During this entire time,
2 plane loads of non-Arabs, some Jews and others not, had landed and made their way without so much a question or look
from the many “security” people who were all over the terminal…This was my first experience back “home”…Racism and
discrimination…
More later…
Mike Odetalla
7-2003
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