Israel has started to deny entry to ethnic Palestinians with foreign passports. This is a film looking at this latest discriminatory policy through the eyes of a Palestinian American businessman and his young family.
Thousands of Palestinians who hold a foreign passport and have a legal right to return to their homeland are being denied entry by Israel. As an occupying force, Israel has the duty to allow the population to move freely but its control of the checkpoints remains absolute and unchallenged. This film highlights the plight of Palestinian families torn apart by this arbitrary policy.
Israel is not a democracy. Its a democracy for Jews as South Africa was a democracy for whites. Akram is an American of Palestinian heritage. When he decided to settle down in Palestine with his family, he got caught in an absurd and painful dispute with Israels immigration authorities. I was denied entry and had to spend two months in Egypt away from my family. After a bitter fight, he eventually obtained a temporary visa. But hes been left in a precarious situation and could be deported at any time. Its a bureaucratic evil. The people are not evil but the system is.
The fact that his wife is an Israeli citizen was not enough. A lady at the ministry of the interior told Akram: we dont recognise mixed marriages, if you were a Jew you would get it. Nor has his American citizenship been of help: I was trying to leave Gaza and had been under tank fire for three hours. When I called the consulate, they asked me if I was of ethnic Palestinian origin. Then they refused to help me. Angry that the US would discriminate on behalf of the Israeli authorities, Akram feels like a second-class citizen. Not all citizens were created equal.
His case is not an isolated one. Hanan is the Principal of the American School in Ramallah. The school was created to facilitate the return of Palestinians wishing to go back to their homeland. She too was denied entry. I was not given a reason why. I was detained in a jail and made to leave the next day. She managed to return on a temporary visa and decided to stay on illegally. I am a ghost in my own country. Its an existential crisis for me right now. I feel as though Im being evicted from the earth!
The concrete wall which runs along the border between Palestine and Israel like an ugly scar has ruined a formerly thriving area. The restrictions on movements of Palestinians have taken a heavy toll on the local economy. There are many opportunities for the Israelis to open doors and rehabilitate the two people together. Sam Harbour is a businessman who set up the first shopping centre in Palestine. What is happening today is the exact opposite. If you remove all talent and skills, all you are left with are those ten year olds who jump at the back of armoured tanks. In twenty years, god only knows what they will do.
For Akram, Israels policy has nothing to do with maintaining security. Im not a terrorist, I have no link to terrorist organisations! They dont want me in the system because then I would have rights. For him and most Palestinians, this situation is destroying any hope for a peaceful solution. Its a genocide that doesnt say its name.
