Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September-October 2002, pages 47, 84

Special Report

Denied Entry: Israel Blocks American Muslims From Visit to Holy Sites

By Margaret Zaknoen

The ad reads: “Show your solidarity in support of Israel on a mission that includes briefings by political leaders, solidarity concerts, solidarity visits…Our presence is our strongest affirmation of our commitment to Israel.” It runs regularly in the Forward, a leading American Jewish newspaper. Those who sign up for this trip probably do not spend much time wondering what will happen at the airport. They most likely debate the wisdom of traveling to Israel these days, then pack their bags and look forward to the trip of a lifetime. They are Americans, after all, and Jewish at that. They will be welcomed upon arrival and whisked away to affirm their commitment to Israel with their presence.

As you might imagine, preparing for a trip to the holy land is a bit different for American Muslims. American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ), a Washington, DC-based advocacy group, organized a “Peace through Understanding” delegation in June. The trip was intended to offer American Muslims the chance to visit Jerusalem and pray in al-Aqsa, one of Islam’s holiest sites; to affirm our commitment to the holy city with our presence. And, yes, to show solidarity with Palestinian Muslims and Christians in symbolic ways like joining in clearing the rubble of bombed-out office buildings from their streets. The trip was also intended to educate delegates about the work being done, by both Palestinians and Israelis, to achieve a just and lasting peace.

The delegates—17 Muslims and three non-Muslims, all American citizens—were prepared to spend hours at Ben-Gurion airport answering grueling questions and having their bags searched. They knew there was a chance they would not be allowed to enter. By that time, Israel already had turned away hundreds of humanitarian workers, not to mention the U.S.-sanctioned U.N. fact-finding mission investigating the Israeli invasion of Jenin.

Nevertheless, the group traveled with a bit of faith that, as American citizens with an open agenda of peace through understanding, they would be allowed in. Another American delegation had just entered the previous day with a nearly identical itinerary. Why should our trip be different?

It began at Newark airport. We gathered near the ticket counter some of the women in hijab, men with beards. We were an identifiably Muslim group. Within minutes the Continental Airlines security agent approached us. He identified himself as an Israeli, asked for a copy of our schedule and wanted to know who we were and why we wanted to visit Israel. “You can understand,” he said, “people like you raise questions.”

“People like us?” we asked. “Who, African Americans, lawyers, university professors, Lutheran pastors?” Our group was all those things, and more.

“You know what I mean,” he said. And we did.

For no other reason than that we also were mostly Muslim, we were treated as criminals in Israel, and left Ben-Gurion airport eight hours after arriving, with “denied entry” stamped in our American passports. So much for being citizens of Israel’s most generous patron and devoted protector.

Israel’s exclusionary policies in Jerusalem are well documented. Since March 1993, when Israel imposed a “closure” on Jerusalem, the Jewish state has prevented Palestinian Muslims and Christians from entering the holy city without special permits that are nearly impossible to obtain. While millions of Christians from around the world are able to visit Jerusalem, Palestinian Christians living a few kilometers away may not. In the last decade, notes Israeli journalist Danny Rubinstein, “there has not been a single case in which a Muslim from Gaza requesting a permit to pray in Jerusalem has received one.”

To squeeze the non-Jewish population out of Jerusalem, Israeli authorities routinely subject Palestinians in Arab East Jerusalem to forced expulsions, home demolitions, land confiscation, ethnic segregation and seizure of identity papers. Amnesty International believes that as many as 12,000 homes in East Jerusalem, housing more than a third of the Palestinian population, are under demolition orders. Haim Miller, deputy mayor of Israeli occupation authorities in Jerusalem, admits that he does not “sign orders to destroy the houses of Jews, only of Arabs.”

Not content with imposing its exclusionary policies on native Palestinians in territory it occupies, Israel, it seems, is intent on extending them to Muslims from America. Rev. Olin Knudsen, a Lutheran pastor and retired Air Force chaplain from Dallas, said he “learned firsthand what it feels like to be discriminated against…Another delegation flew in on Saturday, with the same itinerary, and was allowed to enter Jerusalem because it was Christian. But because most of our group was Muslim, with only three Christians, we were barred.”

For eight hours, the group was held under armed guard at Ben-Gurion airport and denied even a drink of water. Male guards escorted women into the restroom, though several female guards were present. A delegate with hypoglycemia became ill hours into the ordeal and desperately needed a solid meal. Instead, she was told she could spend the night in jail without a phone call. Personal property totaling close to $50,000 (including video and medical equipment) was either irreparably damaged or confiscated. Much of the equipment has not yet been returned.

Back in America, newspapers intending to run stories of local Muslims’ pilgrimage and peace mission to the holy land, instead reported that Israel deemed the group a security threat. Some papers repeated the false claim made by Israeli authorities that the group admitted to plans to “agitate and incite people.” These false allegations can be damaging, particularly in the post-9/11 environment, where rumor and unsubstantiated accusations can ruin reputations and careers.

As we finally left the airport, an Israeli security guard yelled at us, “You want to stay in Israel? You can stay in Israeli jail as long as we want and no one will help you!”

She probably was right. The U.S. consul general in Tel Aviv told us that he would file a formal protest with the government of Israel. The banned delegates returned to Washington and met with State Department officials, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and members of Congress. Though AMJ has repeatedly requested an update on what, if any, protest was filed, no information has been forthcoming.

But then, when a government considers the deliberate bombing of a crowded apartment building no more than “heavy-handed,” it seems unlikely that it will protest vigorously the discrimination we faced. The U.S. government, in fact, has demonstrated a disturbing lack of interest in the fate of American citizens in Israel.

A vocal response from the State Department—demanding, perhaps, that Israel not discriminate against American citizens on the basis of their religion—could have lessened the chilling effect this is likely to have on the American Muslim community at large. Israel is sending the message to American Muslims that it is not worth trying to visit Jerusalem. After all, they will lose a lot of money and time, and could be labeled a security threat.

At a time when access to Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinians is most threatened, this message must be challenged. It is imperative that Americans of all faiths affirm with their presence their commitment to a Jerusalem free of occupation, segregation and colonialism.

Margaret Zaknoen is director of programs of American Muslims for Jerusalem <http://www.amjerusalem.org>. She accompanied the delegation on its trip.