Amman, Jordan.
I wrote last time I had the misfortune of passing through Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv of its focus on security. It seems this is directly proportional to the number of Israeli stamps in your passport, and the length of one’s stay because today I got some special treatment. My ‘Ben Gurion Diary’is as follows;
Boxing Day, 2007.
3:10am – I arrive at Ben Gurion Airport, following a chatty taxi ride from the West Bank with the brother of a student from the conservatory.
3:15am – I get told I am too early for check-in, which opens at 3:30. This gives me time to delete the final few Arabic names from my mobile phone.
3:30am – I walk into the queue for security prior to check-in.
3:31am – My passport and ticket are checked, I am asked where I am going and why I am returning to Israel after my time in Egypt. I respond that I have left some of my belongings at an Israeli friend’s house and I’m coming back to pick them up before I go home to the UK on the 15th of January.
3:32am – Judging by the length of my stay and my unusual story the women leaves ‘to check something’. At this point I know I’m in for some awkward questions.
3:33am – I wait.
3:40am – I am asked by a second woman why I have been in Israel so long – I respond that I have been here seeing a friend who is Italian but has family in Israel.
3:42am – I am taken to the end of the area where bags are checked and asked more questions along the lines of the two above.
4:00am – The questioning continues with questions such as ‘Why are you going to Egypt, why are you not staying in Israel?’ posed alongside ‘Why are you in Israel?’ I explain that ‘I’ve been here for two months, now I’m going to learn to scuba dive in the Red Sea’. ‘Is it not too cold for diving at this time of year?’ comes the response.
4|:10am – I am asked how I can afford to be on holiday for months on end. I respond that ‘I am rich from my earnings as a professional musician, but I need time off.’
4:12am – I am asked whether I have my violin in Israel. I respond ‘No’. ‘Don’t you need to practice’ they ask, ‘if you’re able to make so much money from playing music?’ I respond ‘No’.
4:13am – I realise this is absurd, and begin to find it amusing.
4:15am - I am asked why I didn’t take the bus to Egypt instead of flying. I ask if they ask as many questions on the bus.
4:20am – Man in sharp suit arrives.
4:21am – Man in sharp suit phones someone and checks the details of my passport.
4:22am – I notice a plain-clothes security man standing off my left shoulder. I feel dangerous.
4:23am - I am asked why I have left some belongings in Israel – ‘Why didn’t you take them to Egypt, and fly home from there?’ I get the feeling they don’t want me back.
4:24am – I respond that I didn’t know I wanted to visit Egypt when I first arrived in Israel, so my return flight was alreadybooked from Tel Aviv. While I’m in Egypt I don’t need everything that I initially brought to Israel, so I booked flights that allowed me to leave somethings here and travel light.
4:30am – I am taken to a separate area of the airport. I feel slightly excited, maybe this is added to by no sleep and a little too much coffee.
4:35am – I am taken behind a curtain, similar to a large dressing room in a shop, and am thoroughly frisked and given the once-over with a metal detector.
4:36am – My trousers are around my ankles. I explain that it is my zip that is alerting their detector. ‘Surely they knew this’, I think to myself.
4:37am – My trousers are back up.
4:40am – I am taken to view my bag as it is searched by five people simultaneously.
4:45am – On finding nothing and repacking my bag excellently, I thank them and say ‘Great job, that’s much better than I did it - I must come here more often’.
4:50am – I am taken to the check-in, after which I am escorted through security, which makes me feel like a VIP.
So, after nearly an hour and a half and a mixture of feeling tired, tense, nervous, amused, unwanted, dangerous and important, my holiday began. If it keeps going like this, I’ll need a holiday when I get back.
