Dutch Palestinian Journalist denied entry to Israel

By Haitham Sabbah • Apr 26th, 2008 at 9:02 • Category: Newswire

In the early hours of Monday morning, 21 April, journalist Abir Sarras was denied entry into Israel by border guards at the international airport in Tel Aviv. She was detained in a jail cell for several hours before being put on a plane back to the Netherlands. Her intention was to document stories about the 60-year history of the state of Israel. Instead, she is back home, at Radio Netherlands Worldwide, and now has a very different story to tell.

A sigh of relief and a feeling of homecoming overcame me. It was 3 am when the plane touched down at Ben Gurion airport, whose white stone buildings are surrounded by palm trees as if they were guarding the premises. At the passport control I presented my Dutch passport. With an uncomfortable glimpse the young lady behind the desk asked why I was born in Jerusalem. “Wait on the side”, I was told.