Elad was supposed to travel to the US but he did not get on the plane. He did not return home and did not tell anyone that the plane left without him. Eldad tried to create a new identity for himself and he first thing he does is to rent a room in a hotel—Hotel California—in Tel Aviv.

Nisu'im Fiktivim

Eldad is a teacher from Jerusalem who suffers from middle-age crisis and from painful memories of his service in Gaza during the first Intifada/ He and his wife agree that he would go to New York as first step for the immigration of the whole family. Eldad, however, does not get on the plane but sends only his suitcase which contains three symbols of israeli culture: a bible, a record of the popular band haGashash haXiver and a small bag of an israeli popular snack.
Eldad moves into a hotel, Hotel California, in Tel Aviv. In the hotel he presents himself as an American Jew and proposes “fictional marriage” to the hotel clerk who is dreaming about immigrating to the US. The hotel’s Arabic employer compliments Eldad on his good Arabic. This encourages Eldad to pretend he is an Arab and to find a construction job/ Eldad befriends with the construction workers and starts the process of moving to Gaza.
Eldad’s wife and the police don’t succeed in finding Eldad for a long time because the person in charge of the investigation is incompetent.