Jordan>Israel

“I am fuuuming!” “My OTHER passport??” “We give them the most aid!” “I’m writing my congressman John McCain.” “With the amount of money the US gives them, Americans, especially students, should be able to visit Israel whenever they want. We should have our own express line.” “We love Jordan!!!!”
Yes, it sounds harsh, but this was the chorus of voices on the cab ride back to Irbid from the Israeli border. Claire, Brianna, Akrum and I decided to visit Israel for Thursday night/Friday day, just to see Bethlehem and Jerusalem. However, our time in Israel consisted of 15 minutes in the customs building. We knew it might take awhile to get through, because Akrum, though born in Texas and clearly an American citizen, is of Arab descent. His parents are from Irbid, which is why he decided to learn Arabic and come to this program. We heard from many people that he could be detained for two or three hours, but because he has an American passport, and because Jordan and Israel are on good terms, there shouldn’t be any other issues. Getting to the border was an experience in itself. It’s a half hour cab ride from Irbid, then we took another, special cab to get our exit stamps from the Jordan side, going through several checkpoints on the way, another baggage check, and some questioning. Once we had our exit stamps, (stamped on separate page outside our passport, where our Israel stamp would have also gone so we could hide it if we wanted to get into other countries, namely Syria and Lebanon, in the future), we had to wait for a bus to take us to Israeli customs. This was annoying, as we could see the building about 300 feet away, yet it’s illegal to walk to it and we had to wait 45 minutes for the bus. Once on the bus, passports are checked again, then we were finally on Israel territory, as was obvious from the giant rifles and bomb checks. The Jordanian guards and military were friendly at every checkpoint, and joked with Akrum on the bus that the three girls would have no problems, but he probably wouldn’t get in. Or he would for sure. They all seemed to have different opinions. My favorite was, “Ha! They’ll never let you in! Never. But, eh, insh’Allah, (god willing).”
The Israeli military was much less welcoming. The very first words spoken to Akrum were, “Where is your other passport?” Answer–“I don't have one. I’m only a citizen of the United States.” He was immediately taken aside and asked again where his other passport was, his family name, what his parents do, why he’s studying Arabic, and on and on. This was normal, and would have been annoying but understandable if they would have proceeded to move the rest of us through the line, and eventually Akrum as well. Instead, Brianna was asked several times if she was carrying anything for anyone, and if anyone had asked her to take something across the border, (insert insinuating glares from the guards at Akrum). Finally, they decided none of us would get through. Their reason: It would take over four hours because it was all of our first time visiting. This made no sense, especially when we recalled the group of all white American students who went last weekend and got across the border right away with no complications. Akrum said we should go without him, but by then the guard was suspicious of all of us, so he said none of us could go and his reasons were “confidential.” The border guard continued to be rude to Akrum, then actually suggested we come back the next day. Like we would actually be enthusiastic about that idea. None of us were thrilled to visit Israel in the first place. We’re disenchanted with their government, especially following the recent raids on aid flotillas and the side we’ve seen while living in Jordan. We were going for the historical aspect, but at this point any slim want to visit was gone. The way Akrum was treated was unacceptable, especially because he’s an American citizen. The United States gives Israel billions of dollars in aid each year, yet American students, who are studying the Middle East and religious history cannot visit and see what they’re studying. It’s absurd. Our love for Jordan increased as we climbed back on the bus to the Jordanian border and the same guards met us with laughter and "Welcome back to Jordan!" It wasn’t Akrum's fault, they said. He was just “too Arab.”