“During his most recent visit [to Israel], Koplow decided to also devote four days to meetings with Palestinians in and the. He did so by joining, a program that organizes meetings between Jewish-American community leaders and Palestinians. During a visit to Bethlehem with Encounter, Koplow said he was handed a Palestinian propaganda pamphlet in English. “I immediately saw it was propaganda and not real journalism, but I thought it would be interesting to read, intellectually, so I took it to my room, read a bit, and then tucked it in my bag,” Koplow explained. Koplow said he had forgotten about the pamphlet until his questioning at Ben-Gurion Airport. Koplow was on his way to the gate when his name was suddenly called on the airport’s PA system. “They asked me to come immediately to the information desk, I had no idea why,” Koplow recalled. “When I got there they told me, ‘There is a security problem.’” It transpired that the Palestinian pamphlet had been found during another search of his suitcase. Koplow was asked to wait for 20 minutes, after which a female representative of the airport security services arrived to question him. ![]() A photo of Jumo Yang, a third-year design media arts student who is. Cell and developmental biology students fourth-year Fernando De La Torre and third. February 21, 2018. February 14, 2018. February 7, 2018. January 31, 2018. January 24, 2018. January 17, 2018. January 10, 2018. January 3, 2018. “She asked me why I visited the territories, what was the program I participated in, who were the other participants,” he said. “I answered her questions but she kept repeating them again and again, giving me the impression she didn’t believe what I was telling her.” Koplow said the most disturbing question raised by the security representative was, “What was I going to do with the information I learned in the territories once I returned to the United States?” Koplow said he found it hard to understand how this question related to airport security. He waited for another 15 to 20 minutes before the representative stepped away, made a phone call and then told him he was free to go.” (These are excerpts. I was on the same Encounter trip as Mr. Koplow (Meyer) and got to know him well during our time together. Meyer is a kind and thoughtful person whose deep love for Israel inspired him to participate in the trip. It offered him the opportunity to spend four days meeting with Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, hear their stories and listen to their narratives. ![]() His goal was simple. He wanted to get a more nuanced understanding of the “conflict.” It is sad to think that his strong feelings towards the state and devotion to her security ended up backfiring, causing him unnecessary emotional distress. For me, what happened to Meyer is of a piece with everything else I experienced on the Encounter trip. Namely, that love and support for Israel means living in perpetual emotional conflict. I am thinking, for example, of our meeting with Palestinian businessman Sam Bahour. I met Sam twice. Once in November, when I was a Encounter fellow, and again last week, when I went on the trip for a second time, this time as a facilitator. He left a huge impression on me both times we met. Sam is a big, macho man, accomplished and financially successful. Yet, living in Ramallah means that he has to put up with the constant degradation of having to plead with 19 yr. Old pishers for permits so that he could move around, even when traveling within the West Bank. Oftentimes, the request is capriciously denied. It was hard to hear him describe how painful this is for him.
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Март 2019
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