We know the Egyptian Government took part in holding up the busses which finally arrive at the Grand Pyramids Hotel around 10AM. Frustraited from waiting since 3 AM, we see our sign of relief and our vehicle to the holy land of Gaza. Now having to anticipate a 6-7 hour drive to the Rafah border (if we don't get any stops), we keep Gaza in our mind and the stress is immediately relieved. The convoy of 3 busses and 10 rented trucks full of medical aid, we start our journey. I lay a blanket in the middle of the lane on the bus, and with a pillow I create a mini bed and go to sleep. Waking to stretch, and eat at the rest stop, we finally reach the Rafah border without any major problems.
The border has a closed gate, people camped out in front with signs reading "End the Seige of Gaza Now!" Many Egyptian police surrounding the compound and prepared to shoot any protester that gets out of hand. A family runs up and starts pounding on the door of our bus, we open to see what the commotion is all about, and they plead... with tears in their eyes, begging us to let them onto the bus so they can go see their family. The most heartbreaking thing you have ever seen, a distrut family who hasn't seen their relatives for so many years begging and crying to be let in, and you having to say no. We pull up to the gate, the family still next to our bus, as the gate opens for us you see the lady who must be in her early 40s rush towards the opening. Guards quickly jump on her like animals and shove her away with threatening looks in their eyes. We pass feeling so sorry for this family, the woman and her husband and their two adorable kids, one boy around 4 and a girl around 7 years of age.
Heading to the customs line, we are still in shock in what we just witnessed and how the Egyptian government can be so cruel to these people. We get our bags through, and give them our passport and paperwork and await to be called. Hours pass in the hot room... and people are starting to get frustraited. We are sweating, the bathrooms are not maintained at all, no food or drinks, and the only thing we can do is hang around and chat with our friends. We hear that their are supposed to be thousands of Palestinians waiting for us on the other side, but hours are passing and now it's dark and we wonder if we ever get to leave. We know this is a tactic by the Government to keep the media attention at a minimal when we cross, and to make it dark so it doesn't get as much light. Anyways, we finally start to have enough... we start chanting Viva Viva Palestina and other chants as loud as possible. Within two minutes the Egyptians come out and start giving us our passports back as we cheer. Finally, we get to pass through!!!
As we approach the second gate, our chanting gets even louder, knowing the Palestinians are on the other side and are able to hear us coming. George Galloway is lifted in the air as we start to cross. The Government stop us again, saying we need to be on the bus as we pass. There is little comfrontation but finally we abide to their stupid orders. As the bus passes the gate.. the Palestinians great us with young kids dressed in army uniforms lined up playing the drums... we pass them by bus and see media, and hundreds of people cheering for us. It's a feeling that is undescribable with words. If I had to suffer the whole trip, just this feeling would be worth it all. We exit the bus one by one... upon exit the first thing we do is make sujjud on the Palestinian land, thank God, and kiss the ground. Yelling Allah Akbar we are hugged in all directions by the Palestinians. We don't even worry about our bags and immediately feel as these people are our very own family members. Cheering and non-stop commotion as we are greated by media and the people of Gaza, we make our way through Palestinian customs (which is the easiest customs i have ever been through in my life). There is a quick Press conference as we enter, featuring the main Hamas Spokes person. Afterwards I get a chance to kiss, hug, and take pictures with this incredible man. As we get to meet the Palestinians who are all fluent in english (volunteer translaters i'm guessing), they are very welcoming saying that they have been waiting a long time to see us. This is confirmed because you can see their eyes are all bloodshot red from waiting 3 days for us to arrive.. barely being able to sleep. They take our bags and without trying to see where they go, we have no worries whatsoever about their whereabouts because we feel in our hearts that these people would not ever steal in a million years. They constantly apologize for things, which makes us feel bad because we know that they are the ones sufforning and that we should be apologizing for having such a corrupted government that supports the killing of their people. We get on our way to the Hotel with an amazing bus ride where people are honking, the people in the streets cheering as we pass by... it's just sooo amazing what you feel. It must have been a good 30 minute drive to the heart of Gaza with all this going on.
We get to a hotel, surrounded by Hamas militia all having Ak-47s in their hands. They smile as we come and we hug and kiss as many as we could and thank them for their hospitality and their constant struggle against the evil zionist forces. We get inside the hotel and dinner is already prepared.. Mashallah what a dinner they had waiting for us. Not asking for any money, and again apologetic for their food (which was the best food I have eaten since I arrived on this whole trip), we eat in amazement at the hospitality and their happiness for seeing us even though we couldn't bring nearly as much as was promised. They help unite us with our bags, and greet us to a free hotel stay at 1 of 2 hotels that are available. I went to the second one, which had great service and again, nobody asks for a tip or anything. In Egypt, we would have people stretching out their hands every two seconds.
Having only 24 hours, and a whole day planned for us, we hit the bed so we can get up early. We wake up early, and start our showering excitedly awaiting the small amount of time we get to spend here. We get a knock at the door, and a young adult greeting us telling us that they have breakfast ready for us downstairs. We have an amazing breakfast, again with them apologizing. Wow, they barely have food to eat themselves and they are apologizing to us saying that their food is not good enough??
First Stop... meet the Prime Minister Ismael Haniye. We let the convoy members know that this was not part of the plan, and that it is a risk being American and them considering Hamas a terrorist organization, so some people leave the bus before we depart. I with many other members stay and head over. There is a press conference, and again I get to shake hands and kiss this amazing person.
Next Stop... we head on a tour of Gaza. We head to the most destructive parts of Gaza where the announcer tells us the stories of what happened. The misory the families went through after losing children, children becoming orphans, Women becoming widows, and others where whole families are wiped out in one bomb from Israeli Fighter Jets.. may they be destroys and tortured in hell! Everyone had tears in their eyes seeing and hearing about all the destruction first hand, seeing kids walking without shoes... still with smiles upon their faces when seeing us pass by and wave at them. We see the American International University of Gaza which was totally destroyed. So many places, where you can distinctively see bullet holes in the windows, big bomb holes through the roofs of buildings, you can only imagine the nightmare these innocent families faced knowing that at any time that their house, their selves, their children, their wife, and their Mom can be the next to be bombed.
After this we attend a press conference ceremony for fallen victims from the last bombardment of Gaza. Next we went to a hospital nearby, where we were able to meet with doctors and actually hand over the medical aid. Everywhere we go, media is following us and interviewing us, and we are all over the stations and TV's in Gaza. A mother put her little 1 year old baby in my hands...I couldn't help but start praying that this innocent baby boy would be safe from the Israeli Masscres which happen daily.
The next is probably the most heart wrenching experience of the whole trip. We go to the ministry of detainees. This is for the families who have family members who are currently in Israeli Prisons. They have people come up and speak about their experiences, which make you tear up in a second. Women who have lost brothers, and their husbands are spending the rest of their lives in the prisons. Then the little girls... 3 of them... all with their own story. This made me cry the most, i haven't cried this bad in a very long time but their words were so powerful and seriously makes you want to give your life to take revenge for what has been done to them.
I will tell the story later, but i have to run right now... Inshallah I will post up the girls speech on youtube since i recorded the whole thing. Take care and inshallah the next post will be soon.
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