A very particular Welcome...

So here I am, already in Tel Aviv and having spent almost a day here. This place is curious and interesting at the same time. But to be honest my first impression of this country has been horrible.

I arrived yesterday morning on a Spanish flight with a Spanish company at 6 am Israeli time, after a whole night without getting too much sleep. I got off the plane and walked into the airport finger with the rest of the passage, then into the airport and up an escalator. As I come up with the escalator with the rest of the passage I notice a couple of girls on their twenties that seem to work at the airport. They are waiting for someone, I understand to indicate them some flight connection or something. However, as I come up they approach me and ask me for my passport. They do not ask anyone else. It is me who they were waiting for.

I have been asked the reason for my trip, my occupation, my name, etc… I tell them I am coming here because I am interested in non-formal education, as I am a teacher but usually participate in European Youth Projects. They seem to be ok, but not convinced. Have you worked before, sir? Where? For how long? Why did you stop working there? Have you worked this last year? No (was to tired to lie and say I did). What have you been doing? Eeeh… (Studying an MA in Conflict? Nooo!!) I have been home with my parents and have participated in some of these European Youth Projects. They don’t seem to believe me. They call another guy, very young too. He asks me again the same questions. He tells me to follow him. On the way he jokes about Spanish football and tells me the best football players that have played in Valencia in the last 5 years. Amazing!

We arrive to the Passport Hall, where everyone usually gets their passport, Israelis or not. I see other foreigners are being questioned on the different cabins, but on a more regular way, like they would do when you enter the US or even Spain. However, I don’t go there. I wait with these young security officers. A man comes out from behind the cabins, probably coming from another part of the airport just on purpose. He is very dark-skinned, I would say like a Yemenite Jew, very tall and well dressed. He has an impressive appearance. He introduces himself as part of the Security personnel of Ben Gurion Airport. Very serious, he looks at me without blinking, impassible and inquisitive. “I’m going to ask you some questions again. Probably they are the same my colleagues already asked you”.

He asks me my reason to go there. I explain him about the volunteering. He says why I’m doing volunteering (again). I explain him about European projects, Youth in Action, bla, bla… When did you decide to come here? In december. Why? What made you think about coming here? When did you buy your ticket? Why did you make your passport last week? Where is your old passport? Where did you work? What kind of school? Who’s paying for your trip to Israel? I tell him I have around 2000 euros saved (I cannot say I’m living on a scholarship for a MA on Peace and Conflicts). 2000? That’s nothing. That’s not enough. You cannot live two months in Israel with that… Why did you choose Israel? Why did you not stay and work in Europe if it's in Europe where you usually work? In the end he takes me to one of the cabins. The man in the cabin asks again, what is the reason for your trip to Israel? Where are you staying? In Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv or in Jerusalem? No, no, in Tel Aviv…

(It’s hard to give a good impression of your country when you’re asking everyone who wants to visit and get to know it their “secret reasons” to do it.)

Finally another man appears. He seems to be not as strict and serious. He takes my passport and another one from a Kazakhstani guy who seems to have problems too. We follow him like fools around the airport, from here to there not receiving any explanation. In the end the Kazakhstani guy is taken care of in one of the cabins and the security guy takes me to an office. At the door he talks to an older man. This man asks me through him (in Hebrew) more questions. The same stuff, why I’m coming to Israel, who I’m going to work with. Are you working with Israeli youth or Palestinian youth? Israeli Youth, of course. Are you sure? He asks putting one of those faces that mean: "come on, we caught you". Yes, I answer seriously, fed up of this questioning.

He tells me to follow him again. We get into the office. He says he’s giving me a 15-day permit and that I have to apply for a special visa to volunteer in Israel. My contact at the NGO never told me about that! I tell him. They should know if there is a need for a special permit for this. Does she work as a Security Officer? He asks boastingly. Of course not, but she’s taking interns every month and none of them needed anything special before.

After more than one hour added to my night without sleep I get out of the airport, quite sad and deceived about what I have just experienced. Is this really worth it? What the hell am I doing here? I'm not sure I took the right decision coming here...