Day 3: Netanyahu's Visit

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, was also in Egypt today. In his three hour meeting with Mubarak, Netanyahu claimed that he is interested in restarting the "peace" negotiations with Palestinians. But it is clear from his actions--and the actions of the entire Israeli government--that their idea of peace is very different than ours. We can't be duped into supporting a peace that doesn't respect Palestinians' rights.

We just came back from a locally organized protest against Netanyahu's visit. Hundreds of international and Egyptian activists gathered with signs calling for Israel to end the brutal siege of Gaza and for Egypt to stop cooperating with Israeli policy. The crowd had great energy and were carrying inspiring signs in Arabic, English, French and Greek. (View photos of signs and protesters)

This morning we joined 33 other US participants in the march on an attempted visit to our embassy. Though Egypt is the one who technically controls the Rafah border we know that our government has the a lot of sway since Egypt is the second largest recipient of US foreign aid. Our French friends who are camped outside their embassy on the other side of Cairo were also told by one of the embassy representatives that Israel is the one that told Israel to pull the permit for our entry into Gaza. Egypt is just a puppet in this theater show.

We set out at 9:30am and walked over to the neighborhood where the US Embassy is located. Immediately Egyptian police, at the behest of our Embassy, began herding us into a small area and a line of police prevented us from continuing our walk to the embassy. Two protesters broke through the line of police and refused to move. Eventually they negotiated for three representatives from the group to go in and met with a political secretary who we understand is third in line at the Embassy. They made demands for the Embassy and US State Department to facilitate our entry into Gaza since we are going at the request of local Gazan organizations to participate in a nonviolent demonstration. This march is exactly the kind of initiative Obama claimed to want to see in his Cairo speech last June. (View photos of us outside the embassy)

We are still trying everything to get entry into Gaza and have just heard that 100 people will be allowed in for 24 hours. Everyone is still discussing who will go in and we are also trying other ways to put pressure and briefly break the siege of Gaza.

Remembering Gaza

Today is our second day in Cairo and we are disappointed to tell you that we still do not have permission to go to Gaza. We came to Egypt with more than 1300 people from 42 countries hoping to march side-by-side with thousands of Gazans to draw the world's attention to the brutal siege of Gaza and to remind the world that though the bombs have stopped raining down, the war on the people of Gaza continues.

We are all working hard to keep up pressure on our governments and international bodies in the hopes of entering Gaza. But if we don't succeed we can still stand in solidarity with the people in Gaza marching on December 31 through the hundreds of actions happening around the world on that day. We hope you will join one.

We just returned to the hotel after spending the day protesting at the United Nations offices in Cairo. Hundreds of the Gaza Freedom March participants congregated at the UN building to ask for their assistance. Representatives from the march went inside to ask for help in getting all of us into Gaza along with the humanitarian supplies people have carried with them for the people of Gaza. We are still waiting for a response from members of the UN.

This afternoon we received word that 300 French participants who began a demonstration at their Embassy last night were still there and asking for people to come support. We went with a group of people from other nationalities to see them and show support for their action. It was a surprising but not unfamiliar sight. The Egyptian police officers (wearing riot gear) far outnumbered the protesters and had corralled them onto the sidewalk. And across the street were more than 38 large trucks carrying more police officers. Despite the situation the French activists are staying camped out until they get permission to go to Gaza. (Read more, View our photos)

We have to run now to meet with others and figure out our plans for tomorrow.

In the meantime we wanted to share with you this website marking the one year anniversary of Israel's brutal attacks in which 1,414 Palestinians, including 313 children, were murdered: Gaza Speaks: One Year On

More updates soon,
Barbara and Josie

Please can I go home?

I live in Palestine. But apparently this truth is an impossibility.

A few weeks ago I came back from a trip to the US. I flew into the airport in Amman, Jordan and my husband picked me up (something that he cannot do if I fly into the Tel Aviv airport which is just 45 minutes from our home). We had a leisurely breakfast and then took a taxi to the Allenby Bridge. I had just spent 26 hours in airplanes and airports and home sounded so good.

The bridge was crowded, hot, and buzzing with flies. We slowly made our way from one office to another, from one bus to another. After a few hours we finished the Jordanian side and finally made it to the Israeli passport control. My husband is Palestinian and had to wait in long lines with the thousands of other Palestinians going home that day. This bridge is the only way for Palestinians in the West Bank to go anywhere else in the world. And as always, the Israelis are their gatekeepers.

I’m a US citizen and still have not received my Palestinian residency (which is issued by Israel) so my line had just seven other foreign passport holders. I quickly reached the window and handed over my passport. I explained to the young Israeli soldier that the purpose of my visit was not a visit, that I lived in the Bethlehem area with my husband. She told me it was illegal for me to live in Bethlehem on a tourist visa. She was emphatic that I could not live in Bethlehem. And yet I do.

This interaction jolted me out of la-la land and I recalled once again that I do not control when I go home and for how long. So I changed my tone and my line and explained that I live in both California and Bethlehem. I desperately continued, telling her that my husband was waiting for his greencard and so I HAD to stay (not live) part-time in Bethlehem. I said I was only staying two months this time. I would say anything to go home. She told me to wait.

So I sat on the floor and soon my husband joined me. We laughed at the unfamiliar situation of him being able to go somewhere that I can’t. After all I’m the one allowed by Israel to go to Jerusalem, to the Mediterranean Sea, and to his family’s original village while he cannot. And I’m the one that can travel to most countries in the world without applying for a visa. So we waited together for someone to call my name.

Eventually (was it after one hour? two? I tried not to keep track) someone did call my name and handed me back my passport with a three-month tourist visa. I was relieved, thrilled to be told I could go home now! But also sobered by the experience of being told it can’t be my home.

This is just my one silly tale among millions that Palestinians experience each day. It was a rare role reversal in which I was vulnerable being a US citizen and not a Palestinian. But for Palestinians living in the West Bank this home-coming over the Allenby Bridge can also be treacherous. Just last month a friend and human rights worker was taken from the bridge to an Israeli detention center. Read more about Mohammad at freemohammadothman.wordpress.com

Palestinian women in adminsitrative detention

Honestly I'm not sure how effective letters are but I think Addameer is an incredible organization and these women, like all Palestinian political prisoners, need international support. Please check Addameer's website for more information about administrative detention and their international campaign to stop it.

Addameer has also put together profiles of the two women illegally held by Israel that are mentioned below. These profiles thoughtfully done and are also easy to print out for education and to encourage more people to support the campaign. I don't know how to attach them and can't find them on Addameer's website so email me and I'll send them.

Dear Friends,

Please read the urgent appeal on behalf of two women who are currently held in administrative detention.

Majeda Fidda is an elected member of Nablus municipality Council. She was arrested from the family home in Nablus. A few minutes passed midnight on 6 August 2008 Israeli soldiers stormed her house and proceeded to a search. Five months later, on 31 December 2008 she was acquitted of all charges and subsequently placed under administrative detention. Her order is expected to end on 30 June 2009. Please write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that Ms Majeda Fidda be released immediately and that her administrative detention not be renewed.

Siham Al Heh is a social worker from Sourif in Hebron. Siham was arrested from her family home at 1:30 am on 26 March 2009. A few days following her arrest, Siham was informed that she would be detained for a 3 month period in administrative detention, without charge or trial. Her potential – but by no means certain – release is now expected on 25 June 2009. Please write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that Siham Al-Heh be released immediately and that her administrative detention not be renewed.

For more information on administrative detention and Addameer’s campaign please check our website: www.addameer.info or get in touch with us directly at: info@addameer.ps

Thank you for your support.

Best wishes,
Addameer

In Occupied Palestine, Loving the Children is the Easy Part

Barbara Lubin was 22 years old in 1967 when she walked into the Philadelphia military induction center along with 250 young men-and was told to strip. A dedicated and unusually daring draft counselor, Lubin had dressed in drag and hidden her hair in preparation for infiltrating an entry point into the U.S. military. As she peeled off her clothing, leaflets opposing the Vietnam War spilled from her undergarments. Her memories of that success are still vivid: "The sergeants were so enraged that they marched me out with bayonets and arrested me, but not before I was able to pass out hundreds of leaflets."

Children’s champion: On a visit to Gaza in January, Barbara Lubin of Berkeley’s Middle East Children’s Alliance poses with a family. (Photos by Sharon Wallace)

Over the subsequent 40 years-35 of them spent in Berkeley-Lubin's activism has spanned the globe: from the disability rights movement in Berkeley, to the anti-apartheid struggle centered at U.C. Berkeley, to the Bay Area Committee to Support the People of El Salvador. But since co-founding the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) in 1988, she has focused her formidable energies on directing the work of this small Berkeley nonprofit dedicated to a better quality of life for Palestinian, Iraqi, and Lebanese families and children.

Read the rest of Micky Duxbury's profile of Barbara and MECA here.

What is the impact of the Israeli siege on the Palestinian youth?

By Mohammed El Majdalawi, a MECA volunteer in Gaza

Palestinian youth are living under very difficult economic conditions, due to the Israeli siege on Gaza. Many of them have graduated from university and are looking for work opportunities.

One young man in the prime of his life, Ahmed Abdul-Karim Yousef Majdalawi, is a 29-year-old tailor and father of four. He lost his work because the blockade on Gaza and the closure of the crossings caused the sewing factories to close, and limited the work available to him.

Looking for alternative employment to secure his livelihood, Ahmed started to sell candy to school children in Beit Lahiya, where he lives. But with the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacation approaching for children in Gaza, Ahmed needed to get better work to support his family. He decide to work underground in Rafah, because he could not find anything else. On Wednesday May 13, 2009, the tunnel he was working in collapsed.

Ahmed is alive, but fighting for his life.

I appeal to lovers of peace and freedom to work to save Ahmed, and also work to break the Israeli siege of Palestinian youth – to save their future and to obtain their freedom and rights, like young people in the rest of the outside world.

Ibdaa Dance Troupe

Ibdaa's youth dance troupe performs regularly throughout the Middle East and Europe, and MECA has sponsored three US tours. In 2009 we made a grant for the production of a new dance show and for Ibdaa’s ongoing theater, music, drawing, and sports programs for children.

Here is a short video of Ibdaa's youngest dancers performing in public for the first time.