Stuck At The Gaza Border
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By CNN's Ben Wedeman
I'm stuck at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza. The reason? Apparently my bullet proof jacket has suspicious particles on it. The security personnel here at the israeli terminal couldn't tell me more than that.
In the meantime I've been asked for my cellphone number- I initially refused but relented when it began to look like I would be here forever. Then a beefy security man sat down and asked me about Gaza. Who I worked with, how long I've known them, where I stayed in Gaza, whether I stayed by myself in my room at the hotel (what was he insinuating? I told him Gaza is not Tel Aviv, Israel's sin city). Then he left me to sit for an hour in the passport control area.
The Israeli terminal at the Erez crossing is infamous. Colleagues have been detained for hours, strip searched, interrogated. Israelis of course have reason to be security conscious, and the army and police are on high alert after the suicide bombing in Dimona Monday, which left one Israeli dead.
Nonetheless it is frustrating when you know you're being held back by mistake. Before leaving CNN's Jerusalem bureau Wednesday, I grabbed a flack jacket on a pile in the back of the office. I never wore the thing on this trip to gaza, since we were doing a story on the American International School there. (More on that later). The children at the school would hardly fit into the category of bloodthirsty fanatics.
Another thing I find puzzling. A year and a half ago cameraman Adil Bradlow and I went to a workshop where militants were making rockets to fire into Israel. The cramped rooms where they worked reaked of chemicals which had spilled all over the floor. But when we passed through all the israeli controls, the x-rays, the particle detectors and the like, nothing showed up.
Go figure.
So I'm still sitting here, passing the time writing for Hala's blog. Apart from the frustration of waiting, I can't complain too loudly. I've been given a cup of coffee, offered food (I'm not hungry) and entertained with such questions as "what was your grandfather's name? What is your email address and what is your home phone number?" No, I haven't been strip searched (yet), or worse.
And I'd love to include pictures for the blog but here photography is forbidden.
Update: After two and a half hours waiting, a nice woman in civilian clothing gave me my passport with a smile and off I went.
Needless to say next time I go to Gaza I'll leave my flack jacket there. The problem is that one of the most dangerous areas in Gaza is the Erez Crossing. I guess that means everytime I go to Gaza, I will have to leave a flack jacket behind. This could start proving costly.
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