– I didn’t get the choice. Of course, like everyone else, I would have liked to come home tonight. I find it quite unfair and lacking in solidarity, says Åsmund Jøtun to news. At the beginning of October, the folk musician went to Hebron in the West Bank with his harding fiddle to complete a music studio in the city. This was a project that was started last year with funds from a Norwegian fund. The plan was also to record some music myself, but all plans fell through after Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday. Although he felt safe on the West Bank, Jøtun was afraid that the conflict could escalate and wanted to get home as soon as possible. Found information online The fastest he managed to find was a flight from Jordan on the night of Friday, which he booked on Tuesday evening. Then he read on Wednesday morning that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will help Norwegians return home from Tel Aviv on flights from Norwegian that same evening. In a press release, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt says, among other things, that “the security situation in Israel and in the Palestinian territories is very demanding”. It was also said that the ministry had sent out a message to Norwegians telling them about the flight from Tel Aviv. – I had not received any message. For me, traveling on this flight felt the fastest and safest, even though I had booked a flight from Jordan. I called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 9.50 local time and told them that I was waiting for this message, but they could not give me a clear answer as to why I had not received it, says Åsmund Jøtun. Foreign Ministry: – Difficult to get from the West Bank to Israel No Norwegian citizens who have registered that they are in Palestine received the message from the Foreign Ministry. The ministry itself confirms this to news on Wednesday. Communications adviser Henrik Hoel says it is because it is very demanding to get across the borders from the Palestinian areas. – The message only went to those in Israel. It went out at short notice and the information the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has indicates that it is very difficult to get from the West Bank to Israel as the situation is still unclear, he says. The message Åsmund Jøtun received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he called for information about the flight from Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Photo: Privat Only an hour and a half after he contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jøtun received a message with the information he needed if he were to have a chance of getting a seat on the flight from Tel Aviv. He does not think the response from the ministry is good enough. – For my part, I managed to get to Israel. The fact that several Norwegians have been waiting for information and have not received it is not very reassuring. If so, they should have been open about doing it this way. – Shouldn’t have bothered me for information There was no organized transport from Hebron to Tel Aviv because of the unrest, but the Norwegian got local contacts to drive him to Jerusalem. There he took a train to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. – It was only at the airport that I was told that I was not given priority on the flight at 7pm. But I got that information after contacting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs myself, says Jøtun. He waited for five hours at the airport in case he could still get a seat on the plane. There he also learned that the flight alarm went off, but fortunately without major consequences. Finally he gave up and went back to Jerusalem. – If I don’t hear anything about a possible new flight, then I will fly from Jordan overnight to Friday, he says. Now he is reacting strongly to what he believes is a poor flow of information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. – I received no information about which checkpoints were open from Hebron into Israel, as the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released. It is not right that I should bother to get this information in a war zone, he says. Working to get Norwegians out of Palestine Hoel in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says they have issued travel information and advice on their websites to people in the West Bank and Gaza. The ministry is also working to map exit opportunities for Norwegian citizens in the Palestinian territories. – But so far this is difficult, he says. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday afternoon that a new Norwegian flight will be set up on Thursday 12 October.
ttn-69
Norwegian citizens in Palestine were not notified of evacuation flights – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
