Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
I think I've posted previously about my robust welcome on my one and only visit to Israel.
Hauled off the aircraft at TLV together with my mate by a couple of swarthy guys with Uzis while the other passengers were asked to remain seated. Questioned, frisked and baggage searched at the bottom of the steps, then we were wished all the best for our stay.
Not quite the same as the reception for those on route to Gaza, in my case to work (the same applied to most visitors, Gaza was never a popular holiday destination). You were hauled off by a pair of aggressive 20-somethings to be interrogated about why you wanted to go to Gaza in the first place, what you were going to do, where you would stay, and so on. Then you had to supply a list of contacts in Gaza; I would provide a number of combinations of Muhammad, Ali, Ahmad, bin Falaan ("John Smith" equivalent), and the head waiter at the Beach Hotel, which the pair would laboriously write down. I carried a second passport for these visits, keeping the other for the rest of the Middle East.