Entry stamp, checkpoints and West Bank

Regarding your second topic, more to the point is that it will be peak holiday time because it's Christmas in the rest of the world, and consequently time off work for nearly everybody. So regardless of their religion (or lack of), the country will be full of tourists. I would advise you to book as soon as possible. Expect prices to be higher than usual.

Regarding your second question: An excellent accomodation in your price range - if they have room - is the Scottish Hospice, which is located at the edge of the German Colony in West Jerusalem, but is easy walking distance to the Old City.

As for your first question, as a foreigner with a valid passport, you should not have trouble at Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank. However, if you're concerned, you can try asking the bloke at the border to tear the stamp out of your passport, but let you keep the paper...

Best of luck, and have a great time!

thıs thread Hı,

I'm lookıng for sımılar ınformatıon to your fırst questıon and thıs thread seems to have a lot of detaıls on ıt

S

Hi all

I have just arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Upon reaching the border control i requested not to have my passport stamped, this along with my muslim surname (even though i hold a british passport) meant i was swiftly interrogated. I was finally granted a 3 month B-2 tourist visa which I presumed would be stamped on a separate piece of paper. Yet the only piece of paper i was given was a gate pass to clear passport control which they tore up and disposed of as i was exiting.

So now i'm left with no hardcopy record of my legal entry into Israel. I asked repeatedly for a physical copy of this but they just told me that it was stored on their computer systems so i did not need any physical evidence. This would be fine except that i will be travelling the west bank for 3 months where they will obviously need to see physical proof in my passport at checkpoints as they cannot check otherwise. I could not argue this point with border control as obviously in order to get in i told them i was a tourist visiting the 'holy sites' for 10 days only.

My concern is that with no proof of visa in my passport or on a separate sheet of paper i could be liable to questioning and immeasurable interrogation. I am a British citizen but have a muslim name which makes me a great target for suspicion from the outset.

To clarify my concerns, they are as follows:

What are the feats of just getting into Ramallah with the above circumstances?

How easy is it to move around the west bank in general with these obstacles against me?

Primarily i think that upon arriving at checkpoints they will see i have no stamp and also a muslim name, scan my passport or ring passport control to clarify, which will bring up my details stating that, upon entry into ben gurion airport, i stated that i will not be visiting the west bank and will only stay for 10 days.

Has anyone had similar experiences or could shed more light on what might happen to me when going through checkpoints?

Thank you