The New Dark Age

More reports from the Viva Palestina US Convoy

We spent the days after the Peace Bridge incident finishing the “required” paper work and negotiating with the Egyptian Ministry of Internal Affairs to reach an agreement on time to be spent in Gaza, what we can take with us, and to let all members of the convoy cross into Gaza.  Mr. George Galloway and Councilman Charles Baron made a great effort to come up with a good pact with the Ministry and tried to get the most out of them.  At the end, we were only allowed 24 hours in Gaza and they promised that all convoy members would enter as well as all the medical aid.  They denied the entry of the 47 trucks that we purchased in Alexandria and they still have them at the port.

We were waiting on the Ministry’s approval to proceed to Gaza for days; we were ready to leave the minute we get the okay.  Finally on the 15th of July we got the approval at 12:30 am, we tried to begin our journey to Gaza at 3 am.  We got a bus at about 4 am and were waiting on three other buses to come finally at about 8 am, the first bus left with the first group of delegates and they head out to Rafah where they waited for the rest of us to join.

Finally at about 11 am, we were able to get buses that would fit all our delegates and the luggage and the supplies and we started our drive out to Rafah to catch up with the first group that left early in the morning.  We had police cars driving with us all the way for security, we passed the Peace Bridge without any troubles and we drove past Al Arish, where people were waving at us, showing their peace signs and expressing their happiness that we are finally heading to Gaza after the long delay we experienced.

We arrived at Rafah at about 6pm; we were greeted by people who have been camping out of the border for weeks, even months trying to get in to Gaza to see their families.  Some of them came running to our buses trying to sneak in to cross with us.  It was disheartening having to refuse to let them in because the number of people on each bus had to remain fixed until we crossed the border, no more or less on each bus and the police had really strict security on us.  When we entered through the Egyptian gate, we met the NGOs that we are supposed to deliver the aid to, and then we unloaded the buses and entered the arrival hall where we had to fill out a traveler’s information paper and get our passports stamped.  We were kept waiting for a long time, people were starting to get anxious but to overcome the mood we started chanting for Palestine; we got hyped up and that put pressure on the Egyptian immigration officers to return our passports to us rapidly.  Finally after four hours, we left the arrival hall and got on buses to enter Gaza.

Once we got to the border, the gate was open, we were instructed to start chanting so the Palestinians can hear us, we got off the buses and walked to the gate and started chanting loud so the Palestinians would know that we arrived.  It was an astounding moment that we were at the gate finally entering Gaza.

When we crossed, we were greeted by Gazans who had a little festival for us.  Little children were beating drums and Palestinian flags were raised in the air, celebrating our awaited and delayed arrival.   We got off the buses feeling victorious, we were chanting as loud as we can showing the world, through the cameras that were in our reception, that we broke the siege!

Mr. Galloway had a press conference waiting for him when he arrived and then he had to leave immediately after, but that did not affect our presence in Gaza in any way.  After the press conference finished, we went on the buses and went on an hour long bus ride to Gaza city to go to our hotel.  On the way we got to wave at people, show the peace sign and to express our solidarity with them.  We got to the hotel at 1 am, they had a great dinner for us and gave us a complementary stay at the hotel, they were such hospitable people.  I made some conversations with a few of the translators that accompanied us, they figured I’m an Egyptian from my accent, and they immediately started complaining from what my government has done.  I felt humiliated at some point, and all I could do was just cry and apologize to them, but I also clarified to them that they are not only bad to the Palestinians; but they are also merciless with their own people.

Our first event in the morning was a press conference with the Palestinian Prime Minister Mr. Ismail Haniya, who gave a very good speech that expressed many thanks to Mr. Galloway for arranging the convoy and remaining determined to break the siege on Gaza and he also thanked the participants of the convoy for tolerating the difficulties we’ve been through in order to make in into Gaza.

Next, we took a tour in Gaza and visited the heavily destroyed areas which were mostly the industrial areas.  The scenes we saw just made us all so speechless, no “Oh my God” is big enough can explain how it feels to see the destruction with our own eyes, it’s like nothing on T.V. We saw the people that live in the Unicef tents, they waved peace signs high in the air for us to see, it was heart breaking.  No matter how terrible their conditions are, they were still keen to welcome us to their humble, destroyed neighborhood and express their happiness that we are there.

After this bus ride through the destroyed areas, we went to see the parliament that was hit with 13 rockets for being democratic.  We attended a press conference there with some parliament members who also thanked us for all our efforts and welcomed us to the beautiful Gaza.

Our next stop was the hospital where the aid was delivered. Some of the Viva Palestina members went up to visit the patients but and others just stayed by the entrance and met the volunteers from the NGOs and a few patients who were out to meet with us.  I met a man named Saber Al Ashkar, who was in the hospital receiving treatment for his amputated legs.  He told me it happened during the last attacks, and he lost his brother during the severe Israeli bombardment on his neighborhood.  After he told me his story, he thanked me for coming and told me to thank the rest of the group for helping out and he asked of me to come back to Gaza again and again.

Our last stop was at the Ministry of Detainees, we went to a session where they had families who have their sons, husbands or wives detained by the Israelis came forward to tell their stories.  A woman told her story, her husband has been detained for 16 years and his son never got to see him, and after all this time, he still doesn’t know if he’s ever going to be free and see his family again.  Then three young girls came up and told their stories.  While they were talking, many people were overwhelmed by sad emotions and crying out of pity for the young girls who had to go through such a dreadful experience.  They were orphaned and had to see their loved ones die horrifically, their words of rage were so sticking, such little girls had so much rage inside them.

Finally, we went to the hotel for lunch followed by a live concert with Low Key and Sunny Boy who sang their famous main stream songs.  They were with us during the whole convoy; they expressed deep solidarity with the Palestinians from the moment they arrived.

We had to get ready to leave the hotel at 7 pm to drive out back to Rafah to start crossing the border by 9pm because our 24 hours were up.  It was very sad that we had to leave the beautiful Gaza during the gorgeous sunset, as we drove away, I over heard many conversations about how much everyone enjoyed their short stay in Gaza and how poignant it was having to leave. People in the streets waved goodbye, we took as many pictures as we can and cherished every remaining moment in Gaza.

We got to the border on time, we crossed and we were held up at the arrival hall once again.  A man on the convoy had family who were kept in Gaza and weren’t allowed to exit even though they carry American passports.  We were trying any way possible to get them to cross with us, it was pitiful to hear the young children sob and cry while we were driving away to the gates, but we had to go get to approval from the Egyptian authorities to let them cross.  A few hours passed, we were kept because they took away the man’s passport, but finally around 1 am we were ready to leave Rafah and head back to Cairo, and the children were not allowed to cross.

No matter how short the time was that we got to spend in Gaza, we still got to see how people are living, how much destruction was caused, and the overall situation in Gaza.  We got to see the bullet holes through buildings, the bombarded neighborhoods; the shattered glass in hospitals, the incomplete buildings because there is no cement and building materials available.  We got to see the broken minarets in mosques so people wouldn’t hear the call for prayer and the scrapes of melted metal from cars, the destroyed factories, and the signs of black smoke from a once raging fire in civilian buildings.   It is outrageous how the Egyptian government is placing their brothers and sisters under this illegal siege and what for? What do they benefit out of this? They part take in this cruel massacre of the Palestinians, they don’t offer them help, instead, they aid the enemy in making conditions harsher on them.

The Palestinians have suffered so much but yet they are resisting.  They are fighting for the rubbles of their homes and their land and their children.  No matter how much stress and suffering they experience, they are still standing.  No matter how hard things are on them, they still managed to be happy that we are there, they were very hospitable and generous even in their dire hard times.

This life changing experience is only the beginning for many of us, we will stand up for injustice and Palestine will be FREE!

Salma Elshakre