Cape Cod March in Solidarity with Gaza
Eastham, MA – 01/17/10 – reported by Bruce Taub*
On a cold day in January, fifty people gather at the Nauset Lighthouse in Eastham, Massachusetts (see photo attached)** to march in solidarity with the 1.5 million imprisoned people of Gaza, and with the 1,400 Gaza Freedom marchers who travelled from all corners of the globe to Egypt in late December in an effort to break the blockade of Gaza and to bring desperately needed supplies to the Gazan people. Those gathered are members and friends of Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, of Jewish Voice for Peace, and of Progressive Democrats of America. The gathering in Eastham is surreal, of course, that people have joined together to walk on a deserted Atlantic Ocean beach in the middle of winter to express solidarity for 1.5 million people imprisoned over 5,000 miles away on the shores of the Mediterranean.
The only speaker is Jeff Klein, a retired machinist and union leader from Boston and long time activist in his neighborhood organization, Dorchester People for Peace. Klein has been to the Occupied Palestinian Territories six times, including one trip to Gaza with an aid convoy. His remarks are brief. He asks the people gathered to imagine that a portion of what is known as Outer Cape Cod, from the south Eastham border to the North Truro border (for a map of the area see*** below) an area approximately equal to the 140 square miles that comprises Gaza, has been completely surrounded and blockaded by hostile and well armed neighbors. No food, medical supplies, building supplies, or people can get in. No one can get out. The people inside are being starved, primarily because they democratically elected a government their neighbors don’t like. No planes can fly in. No ships can enter or leave. Even Gazan fishermen are not allowed to take their boats out to the sea.
Klein asks those gathered to imagine that this area of 140 square kilometers on Cape Cod – home to 10,000 year round residents – is populated by 1,500,000 people, the actual population of Gaza. It is nearly impossible to fathom. Then imagine, he asks, that water is rationed, that children are routinely dying for want of the most rudimentary medical care, that human waste has no way of being processed, that there is no fuel. Finally, Klein says, imagine that these same imprisoned people have been invaded and bombed by a very well equipped military, the fourth best equipped fighting force in the world, that thousands of civilians have been killed and wounded, and that the very planes, munitions, and white phosphorous being dropped on these imprisoned people are manufactured and gifted to the Israeli army by the United States of America.
The situation is reminiscent of decades of United States cavalry assaults on helpless and starving Native Americans, of the Nazi imprisonment of the unarmed Jewish population of the Warsaw ghetto, of Apartheid South Africa. And the options available to American citizens opposed to the granting of billions of dollars in military aid to one of the best equipped armies in the world (while millions of people in this country literally do not have health care) are few. We can try to make our fellow citizens more aware. We can lobby and advocate with our elected officials. We can try to boycott and divest from Israel, and sanction Israel. And on a cold day in January, we can walk on the beach.
It is odd what folks consider effective political advocacy in this time of great divisiveness and relative impotence. But walking on the beach is not the strangest of all. New friends are made. Alliances are explored. Folks meet afterwards to plan larger demonstrations, community forums, meetings with their Congressional representatives. Someone makes a video they will post on the internet. Someone writes a letter to an editor. Someone remembers the Nauset people who lived here before the European invaders destroyed every last Wampanoag man, woman and child, along with their entire way of life. Some people hold hands. Some people pray. Some people call out, “End the Siege of Gaza.” Others are heard to say, “Never Again.”
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* Bruce Taub is a resident of Outer Cape Cod, a member of Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, and Massachusetts Coordinator for Progressive Democrats of America.
** Photo credit – Paul Rifkin
***Map of the Cape Cod area between south Eastham and North Truro – http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1pn=Truro+Town+Police+Dept&1c=Truro&1s=MA&1a=344+Route+6&1z=02666&1y=US&1l=42.01659&1g=-70.071738&1v=ADDRESS&1id=284447&2pn=Eastham+Town+Hall&2c=Eastham&2s=MA&2a=2500+State+Hwy&2z=02642&2y=US&2l=41.82988&2g=-69.97366&2v=ADDRESS&2id=263273982#b/maps/l:Truro+Town+Police+Dept:344+Route+6:Truro:MA:02666:US:42.01659:-70.071738:address::1:::284447/l:Eastham+Town+Hall:2500+State+Hwy:Eastham:MA:02642:US:41.82988:-69.97366:address::1:::263273982/io:1:::::f::::/e
Gaza Freedom March: What We’ve Accomplished So Far
Guest Post, Robert Naiman
Cairo – Some of us reached Gaza and participated in the Gaza Freedom March as planned. All of us significantly raised the profile of dissent – particularly, American dissent – against the blockade of the people of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt, with the backing of the United States and the acquiescence of Europe. The groundwork is being laid for future campaigning in the U.S. for “citizen sanctions” against the Israeli government that could help change the balance of forces influencing U.S. policy, so that U.S. policy becomes a force for peace, rather than continuing to perpetuate the Israel/Palestine conflict as the U.S. is doing today.
The New York Times (yes, the New York Times had two articles on the march) reported:
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on both sides of the Israeli-Gazan border on Thursday to mark a year since Israel’s three-week war in Gaza, and to call for an end to the blockade of the area imposed by Israel and Egypt. About 85 of the several hundred demonstrators inside Gaza were foreigners, part of a group of more than 1,000 who arrived in Cairo in hopes of entering the territory but who were stopped by the Egyptian authorities. After days of negotiation, Egypt permitted a small delegation to cross the normally closed border at the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
Hundreds of us – confined to Cairo – protested against the Israeli/Egyptian blockade where we were. Our protests in Cairo were front-page news in the Egyptian press – and were reported in the U.S. as well.
The Christian Science Monitor reported:
Unable to protest the blockade from within the territory, they have protested it from here. The result has been a tense confrontation between American and European left-wing activism and a repressive police state engaged in a rigorous four-year-long crackdown on critics of the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Medea Benjamin, an American citizen, cofounder of the antiwar group Code Pink, and one of the march organizers, says she and 50 other US nationals were “beaten up” by Egyptian police when they went to the US Embassy in Cairo to attend a previously scheduled meeting with embassy staff on Tuesday morning.
And the New York Times noted that:
One protester, Hedy Epstein, 85, a Holocaust survivor, arrived in Egypt from the United States on Saturday. She said she started a hunger strike on Monday. “My message is for the world governments to wake up and treat Israel like they treat any other country and not to be afraid to reprimand and criticize Israel for its violent policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians,” Ms. Epstein said. “I brought a suitcase full of things, pencils, pens, crayons, writing paper to take to children in Gaza — I can’t take that back home.”
It wasn’t a starting point of the protest to highlight the role of the Egyptian government in enforcing the blockade. It was the government of Egypt which, by refusing to let us pass, put its role at center stage. The Egyptian government justifies its closure of the border crossing at Rafah by invoking “security” – just as the Israeli government does. The Egyptian policy is often explained as being a result of its opposition to Hamas – but enforcement of the blockade on Gaza by Egypt as a political weapon against Hamas is collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population – just as grave a violation of international law as the Israeli enforcement of the blockade. Egypt’s actions in enforcing the blockade are powerful evidence for the widely held Arab view that in their policies towards the Palestinians, Egypt’s President Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu are “tizein bilbass” – two butts in one underwear. The events of the last week have transformed the “Israeli blockade” of Gaza into an “Israeli-Egyptian blockade,” something that will dog Egypt’s international relations – including calls for sanctions against Egypt – until the siege has been lifted.
It is almost certain that new organizing around “boycotts, divestment and sanctions” against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza will take place in the United States as a result of the Gaza Freedom March. There is a strong push from Palestinian solidarity activists in South Africa and Europe for American solidarity activists to do more to promote the “BDS” campaign. There are plans for a delegation of Palestinian and South African trade unionists to tour the United States, and for student activists in the U.S. to train other student activists to launch BDS campaigns at universities.
Greater activity in support of sanctions against the Israeli government in trade unions, universities, and churches in the United States could eventually change the political terrain in Washington, by legitimizing the idea that the Israeli government should face real consequences from the United States for continuing its present policies. This year we saw the Obama Administration’s initial insistence on a total freeze of Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank fizzle out, in large measure because it wasn’t backed by any “or else” – even the idea of conditioning a part of U.S. aid to Israel on a real settlement freeze failed to gain any traction. A newly invigorated BDS campaign in the United States could create hundreds of organizing hooks to build momentum for a real change in U.S. policy.
Swedish Solidarity
27/12 2009
GAZA FREEDOM MARCH
On the first anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza, a peaceful torchlight procession moved through the central parts of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, to show solidarity with and call attention to the Palestinian people and the Gaza Freedom March. The torchlight procession started at the Mosque in the southern parts of Stockholm and ended an hour later at the Immanuel Church in the city centre. A hundred torches lit up the dark, winter sky as the procession called for a lift of the siege on Gaza and a free Palestine.
MEMORIAL CONCERT FOR GAZA
At the Immanuel Church a grand two-hour concert was held in memory and support of the victims of last years’ war on Gaza. The event was also a fundraising event for Ship to Gaza (http://www.shiptogaza.se). It was organized by a coalition of organizations, ranging from the Swedish Fellowship for Reconciliation and Peace and the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, to Jews for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and the Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden.
The church was filled to the last seat, with people of all ages who came together to support the people of Gaza. Speakers such as the head of the Palestinian General Delegation to Sweden Mr Salah Abdel Shafi, Mr Dror Feiler, chairman of Jews for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and European Jews for Just Peace, and Ms Helle Klein, political editor of the newspaper Aftonbladet, all pointed out that Israel’s war on Gaza as well as the ongoing siege are crimes against international humanitarian law. Renowned musicians such as Carl-Axel and Monica Dominique, Monica Nielsen, Divine and Mousa Elias performed in solidarity with the citizens of Gaza that suffer but nevertheless continue to show resilience. This short clip was screened http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9esPiCxLDZk as well as photos from Gaza during the war and after. A large amount of money was collected to send supplies and solidarity to Gaza through Ship to Gaza.
http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/ett-hundratal-i-fackeltag-for-gaza-1.1019776
http://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/ett-ar-sedan-gazakriget-1.1019668
(Text by Johanna Wallin, Photos by Anna Wester)
Gaza Freedom March–Letter
Guest post from Jean Althey:
Hedy Epstein, 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, has stolen our hearts. At four feet-ten, she is a giant. Her gentle smile lights up every room that she enters, and yet if you saw her on the street, you might not immediately sense her power. Unless you paid close attention, you would just see a sweet little old lady.
When she came to Cairo, Hedy decided to undertake a fast in support of the people of Gaza, a particularly apt form of protest given the inadequacy of both the supply and type of food the people there have access to. Malnutrition is endemic in Gaza, and children’s growth is stunted; people frequently go hungry.
Inspired by Hedy, thirty others joined her fast, beginning on December 28. Today, the fasters held a press conference on the steps of the building housing the Egyptian journalists’ union. Some of the thirty will continue to fast, others will stop now. They released this statement:
We are thirty activists from around the world, inspired by Hedy Epstein, the 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, who initiated a hunger strike in Cairo for the opening of the borders of Gaza to the outside world.
We recognize that the Palestinians of Gaza continue to hunger for food, shelter, and most of all for freedom.
We continue to hunger for justice for Gaza and all of Palestine. At this time, we announce that we will feast when Gaza feasts.
Until that time, each of us will choose the time to end her/his fast and again take food.
Our pleasure in that food will always be mixed with the pain of Palestinians.
We call on all people of conscience from around the world to renew their resolve for peace and justice in Palestine.
My friend Keren, Jewish like Hedy, has talked about how personally difficult it is to work for justice in Palestine when your dearest community will not support you, even actively opposes you. Hedy, too, has struggled with this problem, Keren told me, when members of her own family rejected her. And yet, she takes this strong, brave action, risking her health and accepting shunning from loved ones in order to stand up for those who are oppressed.
On this final day of the Gaza Freedom March, I have reflected on the experience—did we accomplish anything? We have all been inspired–by individuals of conscience like Hedy, by the sense of international friendship and solidarity that has pervaded these days here, even by the observable impact of our practice of nonviolence on the young policemen. There has been media coverage of our multiple protests here, and so we have raised up the issue of Gaza around the world, although coverage in the mainstream media has been limited, especially in the U.S. We have made lasting connections with one another, and so a nascent international movement, initiated by the South African delegation, is forming to combat the apartheid system in Palestine, a system with many similarities to what once existed in South Africa.
Most people will leave Cairo either tomorrow or the next day, returning home to their various countries. A few of us are staying on, however, hoping that we can, in a few days, get into Gaza after all–not to participate in a march but rather to offer our service as volunteers. If we are successful and cross into Gaza, we know that we will be greeted with love by the people there. We received this e-mail yesterday, written a few days ago, from the youth of Gaza:
We are still waiting for everyone to cross and share his/her feelings with us, but even if Egypt keeps you out, your work in Egypt is critical. Egypt is one of the perpetrators of the blockade, and we so appreciate all the solidarity protests you have conducted at great personal risk throughout the great city of Cairo, at every important “nerve center.” You showed your support of Gaza and Palestine loud and clear, waking humanity up to the 1.5 million persons in Gaza who have been suffering for the past four years.
So please don’t stop fighting, no matter what happens. With your help, we will achieve peace and justice. We are marching for freedom together.
We are still waiting for the Gaza Freedom March to cross from Cairo and we are against the Egyptian government’s decision! Welcome to Gaza and to a Happy New Year without blockade, settlements and occupation!
As for me, I have never spent a more memorable New Year’s Eve than last night, when I went to the French Embassy where the 200-strong French delegation was still camped out. Marching on the sidewalk between rows of small tents, with a couple of hundred riot police standing guard at the curb, the French, wearing paper New Year’s Eve hats, chanted, “Ga-za, Ga-za, on n’oublie pas! Ga-za, Ga-za, on n’oublie pas!” Gaza, Gaza, you are not forgotten! And, “Gaza, bonne annee, oui! Gaza, bonne annee, oui!” Happy New Year, Gaza.
May 2010 be the year that the blockade ends and freedom comes to Gaza and all Palestine.
Letter from a Palestinian Refugee
Guest post
December,28th,2009
It’s been a whole week since I’ve written an entry. So yesterday was the remembrance of the 1st day of the war on Gaza that took place last year. There were a lot of attempts from activists all over the world to go into Gaza and break the siege, but so far nobody has been let in. Being imprisoned for over a whole year is crazy. Not everybody could deal with such a thing, personally I doubt I’d be able to stay sane. The year 2009 had not started with hope, but wit massive destruction and a massacre, and now some Palestinians are planning for their new year parties; that’s a shame. How could they party, and what exactly are they partying for? A year full of hope? A year in which there will be a movement to free their country, and the thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails? If we are so good at partying and having a great time, why is it that we are not good at freeing our country and fighting for our rights, specifically our right to live in peace and harmony? We have copied the west with their new year parties, valentine’s day and all other things that are considered to be “fun”, our schools now have “proms” which we have literally copied from movies. But what good have we taken from them? Why do we always tend to take the things which have no benefit to us or our families? Things which don’t make our societies more “civilized”, but makes them move backward rather than forward. Because of manipulating propoganda we are considered terrorists and instead of standing up for ourselves and proving others wrong, we have become ashamed of our identities: when abroad many of us try to fit in with others instead of being who we are. We cringe when somebody finds out our heritage or religion. We make nicknames for ourselves so nobody will notice our Muslim/Arabic names. Our enemy has achieved what they sought for. They do not want us to exist, and the first step to wiping us away and off the political map, and the history of human geography is making us ashamed of who we are. For when we are ashamed we try to be what will be acceptable among others. And before you know it you are brainwashed and you begin criticizing and disowning your own people. It’s the same method the whites used with the blacks in North America; they brainwashed them, giving them new last names, treating them a lower class citizens, until the black people started despising themselves and did what they could to be more “white”; such as conking their hair straight and dating white girls (which was taboo at that time). It’s quite ironic that history repeats itself, and we do nothing differently. We don’t even try to use logic to explain what is happening. No, we’re too busy living life as there’s nothing to it; as if there is nothing that we can achieve. So we are satisfied by the minimum we achieve, while others are reaching much higher and are achieving much more.
Gaza Freedom Marchers Reject Egyptian Offer to Let Just 100 Enter Gaza
After three days of vigils and demonstrations in downtown Cairo, Suzanne Mubarak’s offer to allow just 100 of 1,300 delegates to enter Gaza was rejected by the Gaza Freedom March Coordinating Committee as well as many of the larger contingents – including those from France, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Sweden and New York State (U.S.).
“We flatly reject Egypt’s offer of a token gesture. We refuse to whitewash the siege of Gaza. Our group will continue working to get all 1362 marchers into Gaza as one step towards the ultimate goal for the complete end of the siege and the liberation of Palestine” said Ziyaad Lunat a member of the march Coordinating Committee.
The Gaza Freedom March was organized to focus attention on the one-year mark since Israel’s 22-day assault, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, injured more than 5,000. Although the invasion technically ended, the effects on the ground have only worsened in the past 12 months. No re-building materials have been allowed in and more than 80 percent of Gazans are now dependent on handouts for food.
The marchers had planned to enter Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah Crossing on Dec. 27, then to join with an estimated 50,000 Palestinian residents to march to Erez Crossing into Israel to peacefully demand an end to the siege. However, the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced just days before the hundreds of delegates began arriving in Cairo that the march would not be allowed to go forward. It cited ongoing tensions at the border. When marchers demonstrated against the decision, the government cracked down, often using heavily armed riot police to encircle and intimidate the nonviolent marchers. Egypt’s decision to allow 100 people into Gaza shows that the “security” argument is bogus.
Gaza Freedom March update, Tuesday 29 December 2009
Guest post Sayed Dhansay, 29 December 2009
The Gaza Freedom March was thrown into disarray today after a surprise announcement by the Egyptian government that it would allow 100 march participants to travel to the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday morning. The decision was reportedly as a result of a direct request from Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak to the Egyptian foreign ministry following intense lobbying by marchers and organizers over the last three days.
Organisers had two hours within which to accept or decline the offer, and the impossible task of deciding which 100 delegates to send. The quota amounts to a mere 7% of the more than 1,300 people who are registered for the march. After consultation with local organizers in the besieged Gaza Strip, the international steering committee decided that sending 100 delegates as a symbolic show of support was better than having nobody arrive in Gaza.
Due to time constraints, march organizers compiled a list of proposed delegates with each country being alotted roughly two places. Because marchers are dispersed across Cairo at various ongoing protest actions, these developments were only communicated to the representatives of each country’s delegation at an emergency meeting called on Tuesday night.
This meeting soon descended into a heated debate. Several marchers were enraged that a decision of this magnitude had been taken unilaterally by organisers. Many felt that this move compromised the unity of the international delegation by excluding more than 1,200 registered participants. Adding to the tension was the near-impossible task of deciding who would go and who would remain behind.
The intensive and at times emotionally charged discussion, which lasted several hours, saw the attendees split into two main opposing camps. Some were of the opinion that a small representative delegation of this nature was an important “victory” against Egyptian government policy vis-á-vis the Rafah crossing. They also argued that it was vitally important to have an international presence inside the Gaza Strip during the planned march on 31 December as a show of support to Palestinians, despite this delegation being a fraction of the originally planned size.
The opposing view, which seemed to be the dominant feeling amongst most countries represented at the meeting, was that the decision to compromise was a grave mistake. Proponents of this view argued that they had come “not to send another symbolic aid delegation to Gaza, but rather to break the siege en mass and challenge the policy in the region with respect to Gaza’s isolation.”
This group feared that by endorsing the 100-person quota, they would play directly into the Egyptian government’s hands, affording them much needed positive publicity in the international media, whilst a longterm change in policy regarding the closure of Rafah would be left unchallenged. “This just gives the Egyptian government a photo-op and the chance to say we allowed people through,” said Bassem Omar, a Canadian delegate.
Many here see this as merely an attempt by the Egyptian government to save face in the international community while the country is in the media spotlight and under global political pressure to allow the march to proceed.
After a chaotic few hours of wrangling with these issues, the group split up into their various national delegations and affinity groups to decide amongst themselves whether they would accept the offer and participate in the 100-person convoy. At the time of writing, the Canadian, South African and Swedish national delegations had decided not to participate as they felt that this approach undermined the very purpose of the march.
A spokesperson from the French delegation also slammed the idea as “divisive” and said that the sit-in at the French embassy would continue instead. Activists who remain in Cairo are planning to continue their protest action at several venues across the city, culminating in a single mass mobilisation planned for 31 December in direct contravention of a ban on large gatherings imposed by Egyptian police.
Gaza Freedom March Letter Three—December 29
Guest Post, Jean Athey:
Free Gaza actions occurred all over Cairo today, and so the police, who are often in riot gear, have had a busy day—they show up wherever we go. They are incredibly young, maybe 18 or 19. Typically, when the police work a demonstration, they surround us with moveable steel fences, which they line up behind– sometimes two deep–and they watch us with what seems to be curiosity, not malice. However, their innocent appearance doesn’t mean they won’t become aggressive; for example, police today were very rough with several Spanish protesters. As internationals, though, we have great protection, not enjoyed by locals. Some Egyptians have joined in these protests, and we find their courage astounding.
This morning, I was at the U.S. Embassy with a group of about 40 other Americans. We went hoping to see the Ambassador, but instead we were surrounded by Egyptian police in riot gear and kept penned in for some five hours. The police told us that they did this at the behest of the American Embassy, but later the “political security officer” of the Embassy denied it. So, who is lying? It is interesting that the French ambassador spent the night outside with the French protesters when they first occupied the sidewalk in front of their embassy, but the American ambassador refused to see us and apparently had us detained, and for no reason.
We went to the American Embassy to ask the U.S. to prevail upon the Egyptian government and allow our nonviolent delegation into Gaza. The U.S. has tremendous leverage with Egypt, of course, and if the U.S. asked Egypt to allow us to go to Gaza, the border would surely be opened immediately. Three members of our group were allowed inside the Embassy to speak to an American representative, while the rest of us were prevented from moving outside our temporary pen. Our spokespersons reminded the political officer with whom they met that when Barack Obama came to Cairo in June, he spoke movingly of the power of nonviolence as a way to resist oppression. The President said,
For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America’s founding.
The Gaza Freedom March embodies that “peaceful and determined insistence” about which the President spoke. I wonder if the Ambassador heard his speech.
In that same speech, President Obama acknowledged the dire circumstances of Palestinians in general, and Gazans in particular. He said,
So let there be no doubt: the state of the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own. . . Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. And just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel’s security . . . Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.
And yet, it seems that we Americans have turned our backs on the people of Gaza: we are doing nothing to end the siege, which is creating unimaginable suffering. And we have done nothing to compel Israel to end the siege. Indeed, the U.S. is presently facilitating a strengthening of the siege: it was announced last week that the Army Corps of Engineers is assisting Egypt in further isolating the people of Gaza by helping in the construction of a huge underground wall. This wall will cut off the only remaining sources of food, clothes, medicine, and all other necessities of life, which now enter Gaza through tunnels from Egypt. How shameful that the U.S. is working to increase the suffering of the people of Gaza rather than to diminish it.
In his Nobel acceptance speech, President Obama said,
As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life’s work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak -nothing passive – nothing naïve – in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.
Our President thus applauds nonviolent action and recognizes its strength. The Gaza Freedom March was conceived as a nonviolent response to what President Obama characterized as an intolerable situation and a humanitarian crisis—a crisis that has become increasingly dire since he spoke here in June.
Thus, we are attempting to do exactly what President Obama recommended, and yet when we went to our own Embassy for intervention with the Egyptian government, we were surrounded by police and detained for hours in an open-air pen, an appropriate symbol for Gaza itself, actually.
President Obama said in Oslo,
It is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine they need to survive. It does not exist where children cannot aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.
In Gaza, because of U.S. complicity with Israel in the blockade, people do not have enough food, clean water or medicine. There are no books or paper for school children, and the schools that were bombed cannot be rebuilt because building materials are not allowed into the Strip. Unemployment is at 75%. There is little hope in Gaza.
President Obama ended his eloquent Oslo speech with these stirring words:
So let us reach for the world that ought to be – that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls. . . Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, who believes that a cruel world still has a place for his dreams.
Let us live by their example.
And yet, when we U.S. citizens attempt to speak with representatives of our own Embassy–in a client state–about our desires to help alleviate a dire humanitarian situation, we are detained for hours like animals and refused an audience. Is this the audacity of hope? Is this change we can believe in?
We ask our government to live by the words of our President and to help us end the illegal and immoral siege of Gaza.
Update–Gaza Freedom March
Guest post from Sayed Dhansay, 28 December 2009
Participants in the first ever Gaza Freedom March are currently still in Cairo after the Egyptian government denied their requests to enter the Gaza Strip. Over 1,360 peace activists from 43 different countries have travelled to Egypt in the hope of visiting Gaza.
The marchers were scheduled to participate in a march inside the Gaza Strip on 31 December 2009 alongside an expected 50,000 Palestinians to commemorate the first anniversary of Israel’s winter invasion that left over 1,400 Palestinians dead and more than 5,000 injured. The Gaza Freedom March also has desperately needed relief aid that it wants to take into Gaza, and seeks to raise awareness of the suffocating siege which Gaza has been under since 2006.
Despite five months of intensive negotiations with Egyptian authorities by organisers, the Egyptian government notified them just days before the march that they would not be allowed to proceed.
Busses transporting the marchers were scheduled to depart from Cairo for the border town of Al Arish on Monday morning. They failed to arrive however after the Egyptian government threatened to revoke the permits of any companies transporting marchers to Gaza. Several participants who travelled to Al Arish independently on Sunday evening were detained or arrested, with some being placed under house arrest in their hotels.
Egyptian police also broke up a peaceful vigil on Sunday night which saw activists attempting to float 1,400 candles on the River Nile in commemoration of those killed in Gaza.
Other protesters report being harassed by Egyptian police and having their busses turned back at various points along highways en route to Al Arish. At present, reaching the Rafah border is impossible as several Egyptian military checkpoints have been set up to prevent protesters from approaching the sealed crossing.
On Sunday evening over 300 French nationals laid siege to the French embassy in downtown Cairo in order to pressure their government to intervene and persuade the Egyptian government to allow the Gaza Freedom March to proceed. The group is still camped outside the embassy and say they will remain there until permission to proceed to Gaza has been granted.
Also on Monday, five busses transporting British, Greek, Belgian and French marchers were turned back at several points en route to Al Arish, with some groups’ passports being temporarily confiscated by Egyptian police.
As every attempt to travel to Al Arish is currently being thwarted by Egyptian authorities, march organizers and participants have turned their efforts to applying political pressure on Egyptian authorities and raising awareness in local and international media in the hope that the decision will be reversed. On Monday afternoon, several hundred march participants staged a lively protest on the doorstep of the UN offices in Cairo.
Activists sang, waved Palestinian flags, erected a makeshift “Gaza Embassy” and staged a “die-in”, symbolizing those killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza one year ago. The protesters have set up camp outside the UN offices and refuse to disperse until they are given permission to travel to Gaza.
85-year-old Holocaust survivor and Gaza Freedom March participant Hedy Epstein is leading a hunger strike in protest of the Egyptian government’s decision to ban the march.
Several embassies have also been contacted to intervene and a women’s delegation has delivered a letter to the wife of President Hosni Mubarak appealing to let the march proceed. Organisers also met with the Arab League on Monday pleading for an intervention but, expectedly, were not given any firm commitment.
The over 1,300-strong delegation includes doctors, lawyers, diplomats, journalists, Imams, Rabbis, a Jewish contingent, women’s contingent, grassroots activists and Palestinians who have never been able to visit Gaza.
March participants are appealing to people in every country to urgently apply pressure to their Egyptian embassies to allow the delegation to proceed to Gaza and take with them the desperately needed aid.
You Heard what a Police State Looks like?
Cairo, December 28:
All 32 members of the Greek delegation and 130 members of the French delegation–the latter had a letter from their government authorizing onward travel to Rafah–attempted to leave Cairo and head to the border crossing. In 3 buses, they attempted the crossing to el-Arish. The Egyptian government, meaning the secret police, the security forces, and the army, stopped them just out of Cairo. They stayed for 3 hours. The French team negotiated directly with the government. After negotiations, they went back to Cairo proper, with a heavy police escort, perhaps 30 total. The Greek/French convoy requested to be dropped off in front of the Circle Hotel, where they had pre-arranged a meeting with journalists. They were let off there with a police escort, but were not allowed to stay there. In turn, the police ushered them back onto the bus, in order to prevent communications with journalists. They tell me that their hotel is full of police, asking questions, harassing.
Gaza Freedom March 