Internationals for Justice in Palestine
Delergation Report Backs - Gihad04
Back in Chicago
Hi Everybody-
I made it back to Chicago last weekend, and I'm already missing the homeland.
I just wanted to send a final email to let you know about some of the last
things that happened while I was in Falasteen.
The Wednesday before I left, the Israelis killed a man from Al-Khalil (Hebron).
I do not know the details of his death, but I was told that he had been
wanted for 10 years. The very next day, my father, my cousin and I went
to Ramallah to find it abandoned like a ghost town. It's hard to imagine
Ramallah closed completely (with the exception of pharmacies) since it is
such a bustling city, but I have pictures for you to see. There were hardly
any people in the streets or any cars on the roads. It turned out that,
out of respect for the deceased, the shopkeepers all close down their stores
for 24 hours when a shaheed (martyr) is killed. The man's body was brought
to Al-Am'aree, a neighborhood right outside of Ramallah, for the funeral.
During the funeral, an Israeli jeep (hummer) showed up, and the youth started
throwing stones at it. The jeep then drove over the youth, smashing a boy
to death. One account said the boy was 16 years old; another account said
he was 13 years old. I imagine that his funeral was the very next day, but
I am not completely sure.
Around midnight the night before I left for Chicago, the Israeli army came
into my town, Beit Anan (next to At-Teera and Qatanah). They stood in front
of my cousins' houses and just waited. At the time, many of my relatives
had come to say goodbye to me, and we were all at one of my uncles' houses.
One of my other uncles and his family had started to walk home and returned
because the army was right in front of their house. Within a half hour,
we heard gunshots but did not know who or what they were firing at. Luckily,
we did not hear any news of anyone getting hurt, and soon after the army
left, my cousins and uncles were able to go home.
The following morning, I went to the airport. There, I was searched and
questioned for 4 and a half hours, and I was denied my first flight (which
should have been at 11:15am, Palestine time). Security insisted that I needed
to be searched again, and that I would have to come back to the airport
and catch an 11:55pm flight. However, they decided that they would search
all of my bags then, hold them for me until I came back, and that way, I
would not have to spend as much time being searched when I returned that
night. So I agreed, and they tore my bags apart. I had about 10 people searching
me at one time. They emptied everything, and it was as if I had never packed
to begin with. They went as far as taking my gum out of its package and
searching the individual pieces. They took all of my credit cards, change
and money out of my wallet. They looked at every single picture in my digital
camera, but the memory card I had left in the camera had only "safe"
family pictures on it. They took candles out of their packaging, and then
took the wax of out the candle and waved the metal detector wand over each
item. After they finished tearing up a bag, they would call me over and
give me permission to repack my stuff. Because I was unable to fit my things
back into my bags and close them, they gave me two Israeli Security boxes
(free of charge!) to put my things in and taped the boxes shut. They assured
me that I would not have to pay extra for them because they were "courtesy
of the Israeli Airport Security."
The search was beyond intrusive. They patted me down 3 times, and even did
a partial strip search. Initially, I refused, but the Zionist insisted that
she was "a woman," therefore making it OK, and by the end of the
night, the only thing I wanted was to get on the plane and avoid getting
detained. The whole time, my father was watching from a distance. He was
not allowed to come by me, and I was not allowed to go by him unless I was
escorted by an Arabic-speaking security officer. There was not a single
Jew in my security line, and even other Arabs were passing me by and were
getting searched faster. I figured that I was being searched more thoroughly
because I was flying alone on a mostly Jewish flight (Continental-- 95%+
Jews), and my flight would be taking off 5 minutes before 9/11. After they
had emptied my bags, they took the bags themselves and searched the material--
how or for what, I do not know. Finally, one of the Zionists told me that
I needed to take my money out of my wallet because I was denied any carry-on
bags. She said that I could only take my money, but not the wallet itself.
When I asked the supervisor about this, she said I needed to check in all
of my bags. When I challenged that I was entitled to 2 carry on bags, she
said that I could not take anything onto the plane. When I asked if any
people would have carry on bags (i.e. her Zionist friends), she said that
"some people will have bags." When I asked again why I could not
take on my bags, she simply stated, "I'm sorry ma'am, for security
reasons." After some arguing, I was able to take on my entire wallet,
a pocket book, gum, medicine, and some tissue, which I carried in a small
Ziploc bag (which they spent another half hour searching). The woman who
searched me and patted me down actually apologized to me by the end of the
night because she could tell I was frustrated and was sick.
After getting through security, the final stop before going to the gate
was the passport check. They wanted to make sure that I did not have a "hawwiyah"
(West Bank ID), because if I did, they would send me back and deny me a
flight all together (like they did to my cousin 3 weeks earlier). The woman
who checked my passport asked me why my visa said "Palestinian"
under nationality. I looked at her and said, "Because I'm Palestinian."
"So you have a hawwiyah?" she asked me. Of course I told her no,
and she asked me my grandfather's name, made a phone call to confirm I did
not have a hawwiyah, and then finally let me pass.
There is some good that came out of that mess. First, I made it home with
all of my things, and second, nothing was damaged. But above all, I made
it home with all of my pictures. If you are interested in seeing some of
these photos, Students for Justice in Palestine will be sponsoring a presentation
at DePaul sometime soon. Since a few DePaul students were in Palestine this
summer, we would all like to share our experiences with you. Some of the
other speakers include Emily (who was on the delegation with me) and Ben
(who was on another delegation with PARC). I will keep you informed about
the presentation so hopefully you will be able to make it to DePaul to hear
about our trips.
I'm sorry for the lengthy emails, but I hope that you were able to gain
even a small idea of what it is like to be in Falasteen. Of course, no email
or photo will ever truly capture the full experience, but it is my hope
and the hope of the other delegates that we can raise awareness about the
Palestinian struggle. Please feel free to email me if you would like more
details about anything or if you have any questions about my trip. I am
glad to be in Chicago, but I also can't wait to go back to Falasteen.
in struggle,
gihad