Hello everybody,
Right now I'm in Israel and I will fly back home next Saturday morning. Last week I was in Ramallah and bought some Palestinian label pins which make pretty clear how the Palestinians generally think about Israel. Now, would those souvenirs cause serious problems to me if security at Ben Gurion airport discovers them?
Thanks a lot!
I ran into the same situation in January ... I had a hat with a protest slogan on it (written in Arabic) in my bag as I was leaving through Ben Gurion. Unfortunately, I was already flagged as a suspicious person due to stamps from Syria & Sudan in my passport, so I got searched very carefully. One security guy found the hat and asked me to translate it (I don't know if he could read Arabic or not). I said I couldn't read it and he seemed to accept that.
Ultimately, there was no problem, and I think the security guys were very polite. The key is to be friendly and respectful toward them -- they're just doing their jobs.
It did take me 3 hours to get through the security lines, though ... just be sure you get to the airport very early.
if anything, they might just search your bag pretty carefully to make sure that the items aren't dangrous, or that you don't have any other dangerous items with you. migt delay you a bit, but as long as you leave yourself plenty of time you should be fine.
in march, my friend and i bought similiar souvenirs. we hid them well in our luggage. they never found mine in the airport, but they did find a keychain in my friend's luggage and asked her why she bought it. she shrugged her shoulders and said "it looked like the kid needed money," and they let her go. just play dumb. it works wonders.
julie
Well, I'm back now, and no, no problems regarding my souvenirs what so ever. Just as entering Israel, the security procedure of exiting the country was much less than what I feared it would be. So, the souvenirs weren't even discovered...
Maybe it is a good advice to buy some souvenir stuff from the IDF as well if you want to leave Israel wit some Palestinian souvenirs, so you'll appear more neutral when your souvenirs are being found by security staff. Another good idea might be to mail those Palestinian souvenirs to yourself.