Passports: Political Icons in a Changing World

It has been raining fiercely all morning, yet about 70 people, many on their lunch breaks, have turned out to apply for passports in the gray-carpeted federal office on K Street.

“I’m going to Poland to set up a housing venture,” said Rocco J. Calabrese Jr., one of those standing patiently in a line that snaked around the floor.

“From what I hear of Poland, they really like Americans,” added Calabrese, a building contractor from Edgewater, Md. “Having a U.S. passport is a big advantage.”

Once viewed simply as a form of identification for travelers, the passport has become an icon of international politics in many parts of the globe--a symbol of national values and of who’s on whose lists of friends and enemies.

About 170 nations, including the newly independent Baltic countries, issue passports. The burgundy-colored European Community passport is a symbol of unity among the 12 member countries.

“The EC passport is important, like the flag,” said Ella Krucoff of the EC’s Washington office. “The passport is a psychological symbol of the community.”

The royal blue EC flag, with its circle of 12 gold stars, was adopted in 1986. The passport, first authorized in 1981, has been used extensively since the mid-1980s. Even Great Britain, which has been reluctant to surrender emblems of sovereignty, is issuing EC passports as the supply of British passports runs out.

Passports also serve as tokens of international strife.

Most Arab countries, including the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in West Africa, express antipathy toward Israel by turning away travelers whose passports are Israeli or bear Israeli arrival visas.

At least three nations--Mauritania, Sudan and Yemen--for years have demonstrated their opposition to the government of South Africa by barring its passport or stamp.

Until recently, the Sultanate of Oman denied entry to those whose passports showed they had visited Libya.

“That is no longer the case,” an Omani Embassy spokesman said. “Our relationship with Libya has improved greatly, and we are no longer doing that.”

Some countries advertise their own moral or religious values by refusing to honor passports on the basis of the bearer’s appearance. Malawi, in southeast Africa, refuses visas to men with long hair.

The use of passports has been traced back to 400 BC, when the king of Persia reputedly granted a letter of safe conduct to Nehemiah, a Babylonian he had appointed as governor of Palestine.

The first individual American was issued a passport in 1796. Philadelphian Francis Maria Barrere was identified as “a citizen of the United States having occasion to pass into foreign countries about his lawful affairs.”

Today, Americans are supposed to have only one passport, good for 10 years, but restrictions against passports bearing Israeli arrival stamps have led the State Department to cooperate with frustrated travelers by issuing two documents: one exclusively for travel to Israel, the other for travel everywhere else.

The Arab stricture is such a potent political symbol that one U.S. senator recently proclaimed a diplomatic breakthrough when it was waived for him.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said his visit to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in September marked the first time either country had admitted a visitor with an Israeli stamp on his passport.

“With that simple but significant act of stamping my passport, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have removed another obstacle from the road toward peace in the Middle East,” Lieberman declared.

A Washington source close to the Saudi government confirmed that the act did indeed mark a significant change in policy--especially since Lieberman is Jewish. But the source said the policy has not been publicly trumpeted in Saudi Arabia for fear of domestic reaction.

Earlier this year, a run-in with another U.S. senator resulted in legislation that, while not prohibiting dual-passport practices in general, is aimed at reversing any symbolic cloud it may place over Israel.

During a Persian Gulf trip in March, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who is Jewish, also was denied entry to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. He was admitted only after getting a separate passport from the State Department.

Now, under a Lautenberg-sponsored provision of the State Department appropriation for the current fiscal year, the agency may not issue Israel-only passports.

Steven Schlein, a spokesman for Lautenberg, said the purpose is to cast on the Arabs whatever stigma might attach to the need for two passports.

“The senator feels that their policy is wrong,” Schlein said. “They accepted 500,000 American soldiers without inspecting their visas.”