The Journey From Palestine (Part 3 of 3)

To the airport

On our final day, we managed to pray the morning prayer - Fajr Salaah before seeing off one of my sisters. The rest of us managed to catch the midday prayer - Dhuhr Salaah before saying out farewells. The three of us, my sister, brother and I were to go back with the airline we came with - El Al. We mentally prepared ourselves for the journey out because we had heard that leaving the country was just as difficult as getting in. They often interrogate more asking where you have travelled to around Palestine and what you did there. Sometimes they can take your phone.
On the way to the airport upon approaching one of the checkpoints the taxi driver - a Palestinian, asked if me and my sister could remove our head scarf as it would make it a little easier. We co operated and put our scarves around our neck. As I said in the previous post, me and my sisters do not wear the Hijab so on this occasion it wasn't such a big deal removing it. We passed a check point and the woman didn't even stop our car. Had we been wearing the scarves on our heads, it may have been a different story. But This made me think, the sisters who wear the hijab regularly would probably have a hard time if they were to be stopped.
The sister who travelled before us had warned us that before entering the airport there would be security checks and more at the airport. We didn't realise that the first checks would happen at least ten minutes before even getting to the airport. Our car was stopped, our passports were taken. My brother's name 'Mohammad' seemed to alarm them, as it had done before. Our driver handed over his ID card to them. They made us pull over and unload our luggages. We were sat outside on a bench and individually called into a small room with our belongings. My brother was asked if he had a gun on him before he even entered. A gun?!
I was last to enter and they asked me if I had any weapons. None of them had a smile on their faces... It's as though they know that what they are doing is pointless and wrong. They x rayed my things and took a swab of the boots I was wearing. The same boots I was wearing when I was going to Palestine. This time nothing was detected.
They stuck a yellow barcode at the back of each of our passports which I later came to find out the meaning of.
One of the soldiers was thoroughly checking the car, the bonnet, the boot, the seats, everything. And while he bent over, his backside was not a pretty sight. So far, not the best ending to our amazing trip.
After getting all our documents back we finally made it to the airport - Tel Aviv Ben Guiron. We bid farewell to our driver and told him we will see him again soon – InshaAllah – God willing.

At the airport
Whilst in the queue to check in we were asked by a worker whether we were carrying any weapons. My brother replied "we are from the UK, we cannot carry weapons"at which point we all laughed light heartedly including the two people questioning us. They asked again and got the same answer. Again we were told to unlock our bags before putting it through. I had taken pictures of the things I had purchased just in case they got confiscated.
Security was actually alright. 
The permit to leave the country was given to us straight away and we were not singled out. There were no extra security checks at the airport for the three of us however, after boarding the plane, the two people sitting in front of us stood and stared at us as though they had never seen brown faces.

The flight
It was a five hour flight and midway, many of the Jewish men got up and started rocking back and forth and reciting from what I think was the Torah. Some of them shed tears, some seemed dedicated to what they were reading. Me and my sister had no idea what was going on. We stared in awe as we saw these men do what they were doing... I must admit, I was a little scared as one held onto the handle of the emergency exit and stared out the little window crying and reciting.
We later came to learn that it was the evening prayer which was to be done in congregation of more than ten men and often this is done at the synagogue.
Judaism and Islam are so similar and it is so apparent yet it is war over land and politics which divides us.
In both of these religions, when praying, the women cover themselves, they wash different parts of their bodies at least three times, they face a certain direction, Jews pray 3 times a day and Muslims 5. Jews read from the Torah and Muslims from the Qur'an and both of these were sent from God. There are so many other similarities.
After touching down on British soil at Heathrow Airport I felt pretty emotional. I was on home ground but I had left my heart in Palestine. It occurred to me that I was privileged to have such a nationality which allowed me to reach the holy land safely and leave as well back to the comfort of my home. Many didn't have this. But then again, they are the privileged ones, the chosen ones to be able to live in the holy land and fight for it.
We got our luggage and to our surprise, they had not been touched.

The yellow barcode
After coming home, another sister of mine who had travelled to Palestine previously told us about what the yellow barcodes on our passports meant. The numbers on the code determined how much of a threat we were and this would determine how much security checks we would have to go through. The sister who left before we did got the number 6 as her first number. This was a high threat and she did have difficulty at the airport. The three of us got the number 3 which wasn't seen as a big threat hence why we didn't have such a tough time leaving the country.
We were basically numbered and categorised... Dehumanising us I would say.

But nonetheless, this was a trip to remember, an amazing experience and I can only urge my readers to travel to Palestine and see how the people out there live.
It is a happier place than I may have made out but there will be tough times and there will also be times where you cannot help but smile and laugh.

I hope to go back soon.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my experience To, In and From Palestine.
To Palestine - http://salaamsalma.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-journey-to-palestine-part-1-of-3.html
In Palestine - http://salaamsalma.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-journey-in-palestine-part-2-of-3.html