Word: passport
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...innocuous-looking press cards, which bear the holder's name, nationality, news organization and passport number in both English and Arabic, may turn out to be the cause of even more trouble. Last week Israel's Police Minister announced that he was launching an investigation to determine whether the A.J.A. had the right to issue the credentials. At the same time, outraged members of Israel's Parliament demanded that the government withdraw the Israeli credentials of journalists who hold the Arab cards, or even expel them from the country...
...ground it is much the same at first. Behind the hard eyes of a young passport officer lurk the ghosts of his country's history: Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin, Stalin and all those they once ruled, the entire tragic parade of persecutors and persecuted. And when the officer finally grunts his assent and one is readmitted to the Soviet sanctum, one still imagines great steel doors clanging shut...
...passport control, Maria asked a severe and inaccessible young border guard, "Why are you so serious? Please smile!" The border guard loudly stamped her passport -- and suddenly he smiled. My wife said, "Try to smile more often. Then your life will be more interesting and easier to live . . ." Thus we bade farewell to Moscow...
...appreciation for such tribulations comes from his personal experience. Trains with no heat. Telephones often on the blink. Sources too scared of eavesdroppers to talk except in person -- and in private. Even getting into some countries can be a trial. After presenting his perfectly legal visa to the passport officer on entering Rumania, Banta was taken to the departure lounge for the next flight out. But the kindly officer did give Banta enough Rumanian lei to call the U.S. embassy to protest...
...keep following the dizzying developments in Eastern Europe. "The pace of change has been extraordinary," says Banta. "Three years ago, Hungarians would laugh bitterly at the notion of free elections. Today they're about to have them." But such extraordinary change has not occurred everywhere. As the kindly Rumanian passport official put it, "I hope we see you again -- if you can come back...