Israeli-Iranian couple welcomed nowhere, fights for their love
Israeli Lital and Iranian Vinas are in love, but no country will take in both of them.
Lital Benhaim, a 36-year-old Israeli, and Vinas, a 31-year-old Iranian, are in love. But their countries are at war.
They met over two years ago at an international dance festival in Turkey. For months, they wandered together from Georgia to Armenia to Turkey and back, staying only as long as their tourist visas would allow. "There aren't that many countries that take in both Israeli and Iranian citizens," Lital says wryly.
They spoke with Al-Monitor via Skype from a village two hours north of Nicosia in Cyprus, where they were sent by the police. There, Cypriot welfare authorities have been providing them with public housing and food parcels for the past two months. Before that, they were homeless and often hungry.
Vinas, who does not want to give his full name because he fears for his family's welfare back in Iran, says they have also been given basic medical coverage, but they do not know why they were sent to that particular village, how long they can stay or where they might go when they leave.
