Quote:
Originally Posted by niwell
I should ask my friend what his was - he mentions how intensely he got questioned at the Tel Aviv airport but not many specifics. Apparently a single male going to Israel on a whim for 1.5 weeks if you aren't Jewish / have family there is a bit of a red flag. Especially if you spend some time in the West Bank that isn't part of any official tour (assuming those exist). In reality he's just a huge history / geopolitics nerd and wanted to see everything for himself.
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They don't actually tell you explictly what your threat level is, they just mark it on your passport. They put a sticker on the front cover with an ID tag, and the first digit of the ID tag is your threat level. When you go through, they look at your sticker and point to which line you go through. Unless your friend knew about the system beforehand (like I did) or was paying attention to the numbers on his sticker, he wouldn't remember what it was.
The system is not a secret, though. Not even an open secret. If you ask any official at the airport, they'll explain to you what it is. It's just not made obvious to the unfamiliar.
As for entering the West Bank without being on tour.. very easy to do, actually. Most people who visit Israel do so on tours but there's no restrictions on independent travel. Areas of the West Bank that aren't part of the Palestinian autonomy areas--the so called "Area C" (the settlements and most of the open land) are effectively treated as though they are part of Israel proper. Within the "Seam Zone"--the portion of Area C that is inside the West Bank barrier--the West Bank border is really just a line on a map. You can cross it without ever knowing.
That's interesting that he got heavily questioned, though. He must have been maybe a 6 or a 7. (From what I gather 8 and 9 are only given to really serious cases). What's interesting is my story isn't much different from your friend. I was there for a week, unaccompanied young male, and while I am technically Jewish under Israeli law because of my Jewish grandmother, I didn't actually say that to any of the guards. Didn't want to look like I was trying to play some sort of "hey I'm one of you, so treat me better" card.. especially because I don't actually have any way of proving it. I suppose I could have brought my grandmother's rabbinical birth certificate and a chain of long form birth certificates from her to me but that's a lot of hassle.