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Comment by throwaway2037

3 days ago

This is a great post. Thank you to share your personal experience. Do you think they were first generation Palestinians? Or multi-generation (parents or earlier immigrated)? I know that Michigan state (Detroit, etc.) has one of the largest Arab communities in the United States.

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throwaway2037

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aprilthird2021  3 days ago

I went to school with some first generation Palestinians just 5-ish years ago.

One of them had to miss an entire quarter because Israel just wouldn't allow him to leave. He has never been back to Palestine since then because another detainment or missed visa problem, etc. would derail his career.

  • ignoramous  3 days ago

    > One of them had to miss an entire quarter because Israel just wouldn't allow him to leave

    Terrible.

    Even in the current ceasefire terms, there's an explicit provision to have Israel agree to let the injured leave for treatment to neighbouring countries and be allowed to come back to the Strip.

    Despite arguments to contrary, I can see why some claim it is an open-air prison.

    • dotancohen  3 days ago

      A UN delegate first referred to the Gaza strip as an open air prison in 1956, while still under Egyptian control.

      That aspect of Gaza was in place long before Israel had anything to do with the strip.

  • trimethylpurine  3 days ago

    Some part of this doesn't make sense. He couldn't leave from Gaza or Egypt? Why would he have needed Israel's permission?

    • aprilthird2021  2 days ago

      I must admit I'm not an expert in how it works. And as friends we never really talked about the details of such things. But you can read about the procedures here: https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/legal-opinions/legal_mem...

      Based on that, he must have obtained a special permit to leave Palestine and fly to the US for higher education, but this had to be approved by Israel or he could not leave Palestine or transit through Ben Gurion Airport (remember the Palestinian's international airport was bombed into rubble a decade ago or so). One year they denied him for some Kafkaesque reason, I presume. By the time he sorted it out he had to arrange with the school to take a leave and start again the next quarter

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