In this particular matter, we agree. X amount of weeks cooling their heels in a compound without TV, laptop, or phones, and their enthusiasm & future activism for Gaza will drop like a heavy stone.

After I was denied entry in 2004 coming in via Ben Gurion airport at the invitation of the Palestine Red Crescent Society to come and work and teach staff in al-Bireh I went the year after via Amman and the King Hussein Bridge (formerly known as Allenby Bridge) over the Jordan River. But you don't seem to understand that before one can enter occupied Palestine, one has to pass the Israeli border post there. Israeli controls all the access points into the Westbank. More recently Israel has tried to restrict entry and will allow entry to Israel only and not to the occupied Palestinian territories. But applying a blanket ban on access to the Occupied Territories is difficult for Israel and would raise a lot of protest. There are still quite a few tourists/pilgrims going to Bethlehem and some other places in the occupied Westbank, like Jericho. The point at the international border is that you have to lie to get into the Palestinian territories. I am a middle aged man, a medical professional, looking "respectable", no long hair. I do not raise a lot of suspicion, but when asked: where are you going, and the answer is Ramallah you may be denied entry (not always). But if a young person would say a similar thing, he/she would certainly be denied entry. That is the issue that the fly-in activists want to raise.

LOLOLOL Sarah B. That one tickled my fancy!

and take the buses. I would have thought you would LOATHE to set foot in Israel. And best of all, you won't need to lie.

Your guest PLLLLLLLLLLLease! Please give me the name of one of your guests. If you can't name them how can you claim they are guests? Would you welcome me if I traveled in your town carrying an Israeli flag with a sign that said Palestinians are apartheid, hateful, murders? When I visit a foreign country, I don't come to cause trouble, agitate and spew hate. I come to see the sights, meet people and am gracious to those I meet. I respect the country I am traveling in and I obey their laws. It will be interesting to see what travel protocols YOUR guests follow. Better yet have them fly into Jordan or even Syria I am sure the Syrians would welcome some help in protesting what is going on in their country.

If I remember my history Palestine was divided and the Palestinian state of Jordan occupies approximately 77% of it (much of which was Israel). Israelis returned to their historic homeland of over 3000 years.