by George Arida

Part 1 of 3

Monday, January 12

I'm in Jerusalem. Our sister city delegation of three people arrived here yesterday evening with a plan to go to Gaza for five days then back to Jerusalem and back home on Sunday.

It is very difficult for anyone to get into, or out of, the Gaza Strip. It is surrounded on three sides by a tall concrete wall with guard towers, and on the fourth side by a beach that is off limits to the 1.25 million residents of the Gaza Strip.  

Two of our delegation, Jennifer Loewenstein and myself, came here with press credentials, which we understood should help us get in. We also have an official letter from our Congresswoman as a backup plan (press cards actually work better than U.S. congressional letters, believe it or not).

However, the Israelis just instituted a new policy, even more restrictive than before, for gaining entry to Gaza. For journalists, an original issue press card is no longer adequate. Now an official Israeli-issued press card is required, and this has to be obtained through a protracted process at the Government Press Office (GPO) in West Jerusalem. For anyone affiliated with or working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like, for example, the UN Relief Works Agency or the World Bank or Middle East Children's Alliance, there is an involved documentation process and application which has to be submitted to the Israeli Interior Ministry.  Ultimately, Israel's military gets to decide who travels in and out of the occupied Palestine. And last year the military began a policy requiring all foreigners visiting Gaza to sign a waiver form in which they agreed that Israel held no responsibility for their death or injury by the Israeli army. One of my companions, Jennifer, has been here many times. She was the first to try to get her press card validated at the Israeli press office in West Jerusalem as required by the Israelis, and she found they've put more obstacles in that path than there used to be. Now each of us needs to have not only a valid press card, but also a letter from a senior editor stating our specific assignment in Gaza, and also have our sponsoring media organization register with the Israeli Consulate in Chicago. Then we go back to the office in Jerusalem and try to get our press cards officially approved and stamped by the Israelis.  And once we go through this process, our contacts in Gaza and elsewhere give us about a 50-50 chance of getting in.  

Amira Hass, a journalist who writes for the Israeli daily  Ha'aretz, told us that an Israeli-issued press card should work, but that the Israeli military is trying everything to keep out foreign nationals who may be witnesses or obstacles to their actions in Gaza, particularly Rafah, where home demolitions, collective punishment, and even killings are happening regularly. So best-case scenario is two of us get in but are delayed at least a day getting to Rafah, which means we won't make the meetings we had scheduled for today. Worst-case scenario is we are all barred from Gaza and spend our time in the West Bank. We've arranged a back-up plan to go to Ramallah and Qalqilya, and we'll also try to get into Nablus, which is very difficult right now.

On arriving at the airport in Tel Aviv yesterday afternoon, I was taken into a separate room, questioned, and searched for about an hour, probably because of my name. The security officer asked me how to pronounce my middle name, Gamil, and what the origin was, which led to questions about whether I've ever been to Lebanon, do I still have family there, etc. In the end, we all got in without too much problem. From there, the trip to Jerusalem was uneventful.

Our little inconvenience at the airport was nothing in comparison to everyday life for Palestinians here. As we were walking down the street today, we passed a very large group of Palestinians standing outside a large metal turnstyle, waiting to get into an Israeli government building. We didn't know what this was all about at the time. We passed it again walking back, about two hours later. I recognized one boy and his mother who had been standing in the line on our first walk-by.  

Jennifer asked someone what the crowded line was for. We learned that this is the Israeli Interior Ministry office in East Jerusalem. It is staffed by one person and is open 20 hours per week (four hours per day, five days per week) to serve the 250,000 Palestinians living in Jerusalem. Each Palestinian resident has to apply for permits for virtually all life activities — travel to or from anywhere outside a person's own town; educational matters; business or personal building occupancy; changing or modifying a residence; family matters such as marriage and new births; driving or selling a vehicle. Palestinians need permission and paperwork to conduct most any business or personal matters of any consequence. The typical wait in line at the Interior Ministry is 2-3 days, and numerous return visits are often required to make any progress in any of the many permitting processes required.

If a new baby is born to a Palestinian family where one parent is not a Jerusalem resident, the parents have a certain period of time (currently 12 months) to bring the baby to the Interior Ministry and have him or her added to a parent's ID card. If this doesn't happen, then the baby can never be registered as a Jerusalem resident, unless the parents apply for "family reunification." Family reunification is another very long, drawn-out process and the permit is usually denied, often after years of forms and repeat applications. I met one man, born and living in Jerusalem, who had been waiting seven years for a "family reunification" permit so his wife from just outside Jerusalem could legally reside with him in their Jerusalem home. He wasn't feeling optimistic about his prospects.

The consequences for not having a permit for something are serious. In the case of a new-born who doesn't get "resident" status, the baby won't be eligible for any municipal services and could even be deemed an illegal alien and subject to deportation. If a Palestinian ventures outside of his or her own town and doesn't have all required travel permits in order, he or she can be detained indefinitely or simply refused passage at a checkpoint and left to find somewhere to stay while trying to rectify the situation.   

If a Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are gone for more than a certain period of time (it changes from time to time), they are not allowed to return to their home. They are considered to have left permanently by Israeli "law" and may not return. Having been born here and having residence papers and title to property are of no concern to the Israelis.  

On the way back from a late dinner tonight, we walked by the Interior Ministry around 11:30 p.m. It was cold, dark, and rainy, and there were probably 150 people standing in the line, waiting for the Interior Ministry office to open at 9 the next morning. They stayed there to retain their place in line. A small group was crowded around a barrel with a fire in it for warmth.

As difficult as things are for Palestinians in Jerusalem, it's actually not so bad compared to everyday life for those who reside in the Occupied Territories outside Jerusalem. Nablus has been under siege for 10 days, and the nearby Balata refugee camp for 18 days. The latter has been sealed off completely, with no food or medicine allowed in. Dozens of civilians have been killed in the past couple of months — two men and a boy in Nablus just this morning — and many more injured. In Gaza, many homes and buildings have been demolished, and the number of homeless is soaring in Rafah and Khan Younis in particular.

Much more could be said, but I'll leave it at that. These are the images most Israelis — and certainly the government and military — don't want witnessed by outsiders. But outsiders do find ways to get in and, more important, insiders are becoming increasingly sophisticated and have their own means for getting words and pictures out on the Internet and in other forms (e.g. the Web site of 18-year-old Mohammed in Rafah: www.rafah.vze.com).

Israel's ability to bury the evidence, erase the facts, and maintain a wall of denial is starting to fail. I honestly don't know what that will mean in the long run, whether it will translate to significant changes on the ground, and if so, when. But I do know that it is a serious and growing threat to the status quo.

On a happier note, Jerusalem is a fascinating place. Jennifer is familiar with the area and is a wonderful travel companion. Last evening after arriving, the three of us walked through the Old City and saw the Wailing Wall and some other ancient historic sites in the Jewish Quarter, the Al-Aqsa Mosque (from a distance, because it was closed by the Israeli government), and walked along the Mount of Olives, where Jesus is said to have been crucified, and from a distance we saw several of the ancient and beautiful churches there. These sites are truly awe-inspiring. The Old City is amazing, with its narrow internecine streets with shops and ancient homes where families continue to live. We also stopped at some of the shops in the Muslim Quarter and Aremenian Quarter and walked around outside the

 Old City in modern East Jerusalem.

Friday, January 16

The good news is that one of our delegation members, Jennifer, finally got into Gaza Wednesday night and is now in Rafah. The other two of us, Cisco Bradley and I will not be able to enter Gaza. Cisco spent yesterday going to Erez Crossing and trying to persuade them to allow him entry based on our Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin's letter of support. Despite a somewhat sympathetic soldier at the crossing, in the end his supervisors denied entry for Cisco. We got zero support from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.  

We both also got letters from officially registered NGO's (nongovernmental organizations), but found that it is a five-day application process with the Israeli military office. I talked to two people who have recently tried to enter Gaza this way, and it is still difficult; even after submitting the paperwork and waiting the five days, the likelihood of being granted permission to enter seems to be decreasing every week. For us this method is of no use anyway, because we will be flying back to the States in two days.

I spent half of yesterday trying to finalize my press card at the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO). Although I have fulfilled all the Israeli press office’s requirements, they have refused to issue me a press card. Interestingly, when I met with the press office bureaucrat, Mr. Richard Pater, to give him all the paperwork, he immediately asked me why Madison was engaging in a sister-city relationship with Rafah. This led to further questions about whether we are also twinning with an Israeli city and some disparaging statements about Rafah.

I’m guessing Mr. Pater must have learned about the sister-city project from Bob Schwartz at the Israeli Consulate in Chicago, who mentioned it to me when I called him on Tuesday to make sure he was issuing the appropriate approval to the GPO. I'm not sure how Mr. Schwartz learned about the sister city project. [When The Madison Times editor registered the paper with the Israeli Chicago consulate, he informed Schwartz that one of the articles Arida would be writing was about the Madison-Rafah sister city relationship. —ed.]

Pater, a young British guy with shoulder-length hair and glasses, tried to discourage me from going to Gaza because it was "dangerous" — he neglected to mention that danger was posed by the Israeli army, not the Palestinian residents in Gaza. He also handed me some pamphlets justifying Israel's settlement policy, published by an American group. Pater and I talked at some length in the press office and I followed up with numerous phone calls over the next two days to try to finalize my press pass.

In the end, Pater claimed that the fact that I don't have a body of published work in The Madison Times makes it impossible for them to accredit me as a journalist. But I suspect his refusal may have more to do with a deliberate effort to obstruct our sister-city mission. Every indication we have gotten thus far has demonstrated that Israeli policy is staunch in trying to discourage any such efforts.

It seems clear that he was looking for a reason to say no to me, and he found one. I asked what unpublished additional criteria he was using to deny me a press pass, since I had met all the requirements published in their new policy statement, which I had a copy of. He assured me that he wasn't using any extraordinary requirements, but that my lack of history as a journalist "negated my letter of assignment," which is one of the requirements. I told him I had a perfectly valid letter of assignment from the editor-in -chief of a newspaper that had been validated by the Consulate in Chicago, as was required. He said he was sorry, but he simply would not give me a press card. I told him I found his answer unacceptable and was deeply disappointed with this decision ("I understand your feelings..."), and that since I had met all their requirements but was still refused a press pass, I can only assume his concerns are around the potential content of an article I might write after observing the situation in Gaza.

He vehemently denied this, but refused to change the "no" decision. I went back to the hotel and left a phone message for Mr. Schwartz in Chicago registering my dismay at the situation, making clear that I had fully complied with the procedure but was denied a press card anyway and had gotten absolutely no satisfactory reason from Mr. Pater as to why. I added that the GPO clearly has requirements above and beyond those officially published in the new policy, and I asked him to intervene on my behalf (he was actually very pleasant when I spoke with him on the phone the first time). I didn't want to give up quietly on this, but in reality it won't matter; even if they were to reverse Pater's decision, there is no chance I can get a press card in time now, since the GPO is closed today (Friday) and Saturday. It looks like I’ll be spending the balance of my time here in the West Bank.

George Arida, a local venture capitalist, is a member of the Madison Rafah Sister City Project. He made his first trip to Palestine in January 2004. You can contact him at mgarida@yahoo.com.

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