Sunday, July 19, 2009

Rafah Resistance Camp; 36 Days


Dear all,

 Here comes a short report on my stay at the Rafah border. I found it very difficult to put in words my feelings as I am shocked by what is going on there... Indeed, how is the situation in Gaza? seems that every thing is OK, israelis stopped their bombing, right? a worldwide conference promised a huge amount of money to reconstruct, right? No... every day, we receive news that do not appear in the well guarded media. Who knows that patients are still dying due to the siege? (death toll reaches 349 on June 9th, said the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza). Most of the aid (food, medical aid, construction material, etc) is roting at Port Said, El Arish, and near Rafah border. A well organised and profitable traffic of goods is going on through the famous tunnels, etc.

 

On June 13th 2009, an international camp set up at the Rafah border, to claim for the end of this criminal siege. The 9th of July, Chris, my husband, and myself joined this small group of wonderful people, to support their action. We decided at the last moment to travel, leaving in the lurch all what we had to do... Chris had been there at the very beginning of the camp and had told me how they managed to impose its existence at the Rafah gate, how life in the camp was a daily challenge, how the Palestinians trying to get in were grateful to these witnesses of their misfortune. We are also deeply convinced that we all should ask for a political solution for Palestine, urgently and firmly demanding the end of the siege of Gaza. Humanitarian aid is for sure not a solution.

Here is a short summary of what happened during the few days of our stay at the Rafah border.

We arrived on the 10th. It was not easy to reach the camp. First, on the Suez Canal Bridge (also known as the Mubarak Peace Bridge ;) ), all passengers of the bus were asked to present their ID. Both of us, because we were foreigners, were asked to go out of the bus, and had to answer a series of questions (where are you going? why? etc)... When we arrived at El Arich, we took a collective taxi which was stopped at one of the numerous check-points on the way to Rafah. There we had to leave the taxi, and the officer wanted us go back. He explained that we should have an authorisation from our embassy to go to Rafah! We tried to negociate during more than one hour, without any success. He just told us that we were right but that he could not act against the orders he received. We went back to El Arish, and took another taxi which agreed, on payment of a much higher price, to take us to the border by the small roads where there are no or few check points. We finally reached the border, at night. I relate this travel because we realised that the Sinai, and particularly the region around Rafah is under military occupation, with a huge number of check-points.

It is difficult to relate the joy of all at the camp when we arrived, and the astonishment of the policemen to see Chris again!! I will not detail the life in the camp. Enough to say that it is a extraordinary experience to share this common willing for justice with people who can be so different and to realize that these differences make our strength, they are the beauty of humanity. I just want to relate few stories on these palestinian families trying to reach their relatives or their own home in Gaza.

 

On the 10th of July, a very sick Palestinian woman was lying on the ground in front of Rafah gate. She has serious diabetes problem and needs a kidney transplant urgently. As such intervention could not be done in Egypt nor she could be allowed to travel abroad from Egypt, this woman needed to return to Gaza to try to  be treated in Israel or to travel to another country. She was accompanied by her older son, wife and little child, and by her nephew. They presented a series of certificates from the egyptian hospital, describing the terrible health state of this woman. When we protested and argued that this woman might die here, the officers answered "let her die". Finally, she was transported to an hospital in El Arish and could enter Gaza few days later, after a lot of negociations... We received the visit of a Palestinian living in Norway, who came to check the possibilities to get in with his wife and three children (who were waiting in an hotel in El Arish). He told us that the egyptians confirmed that the border was closed, and that he hoped to be able to get in with the famous convoy of US citizens organised by a british deputy, G. Galloway. Few days later, a family with five girls, an older woman and two men arrived from Saudi Arabia, wanting to get in. The women were crying, telling us that they made all this travel to meet their relatives in Gaza, they were denied to enter. As we offered them some water and fruits, the police came and shouted that they should not talk with us. These are few stories of the Rafah gate... When the convoy arrived (in fact a small part of it, as the Egyptian authorities made all kind of difficulties to let them reach Rafah), a number of Palestinian families tried to take the chance to cross the border. But they were brutally retained by the egyptian soldiers, and the US activists went in without protesting against this injustice. All these families are waiting in El Arish, for days, weeks, months, coming from all around the world, to try to get into Gaza, to reach their home, their relatives... We know a German woman, with her six children, who is trying to join her Palestinian husband in Gaza. She has been waiting there for over a month... Is it more important for foreigners to enter Gaza and deliver few humanitarian aid than to demand the end of the siege of Gaza and the freedom of movement for Palestinians?

In solidarity

Claudine


Thursday, July 9, 2009

Rafah Sit-In Camp Video


Urgent Call for help from the Border....


Please consider joining the Rafah Sit-In Camp - or supporting them.

To contact the US Egyptian Embassy regarding the mistreatment and

restrictions placed on the humanitarian volunteers with the

International Movement to Open the Rafah Border (IMORB) use the FAX

numbers. The email addresses on the embassy web site are all faulty.

The phone numbers at the DC embassy are a maze. You can try regional

office phone numbers - you at least get to leave a voice message.

Wash. DC  EMBSSY FAX - 202.244.4319, NEW YORK FAX 212.308.7643


Iman, one of two Egyptian journalists sustaining the sit-in camp at

Rafah crossing has asked for support and urgently invites you to go to

Rafah now.




Hello,


I came back from Rafah yesterday, but when I'll go back in few days I'll go

to the gate ask to meet an official there and ask him about our colleagues

Jenny and Natalie. I'll give him a piece of my mind as I always do and

translate everything you wrote here and add the demand to let them go home

to our list of sit-in demands.


Meanwhile, the Egyptian government closed the bathrooms, no water, no

electricity to charge our phones and they even closed the mosque and warned

everyone in the area from helping us. They want to get rid of us before

Galloway comes. We're there and will be there and need you to come join us.


Please, think of new ideas we can use and do to put more pressure on the

authorities to listen to our demands. They think we're a small number and

can do nothing, we want to change this idea.



Please, watch how they steel the aids for Gaza from Al Arish.

http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.factjo.com/fullnews.aspx?id=9429


Also watch more photos and videos from Rafah during the last opening of the

border.

http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://lesa-3aish.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post_29.html


I'll send more photos.

Later,

In solidarity,

Iman

Be a "Ghost" at the Rafah Border


Come join us and be a "Ghost" for the Egyptian police :))

 français à suivre

 

Hello,

 

I'm sending this message so I can draw a smile on your faces. Today Christian and his wife reached Rafah camp again after many maneuvers. The police usually stops everyone who looks like a foreigner.

 

Remember Ellen, Don, Micheline and the others how they used to stop you and return you back. Here we're playing Tom and Jerry with the police at check points.

 

Yes, they stopped Christian and his wife and returned them back to Al-Arish. We had an emergency and were on the phones all the time till we managed to get Chris and his wife to Rafah Gate with the others.

 

Guys, Paki Chris and myself were laughing out loud when we talked about the look on the police faces when Chris and his wife appeared in Rafah, this is a look that you shouldn't miss! Have you ever seen the look on someones' face when he sees a ghost? I guess not, but this is a description of the situation :))

 

Paki told me that she and Martha climbed over the iron gate of the closed bathroom to get there.

 

Come join us and be a "Ghost" for the Egyptian police :))

 

Love and solidarity,

Iman

 

 

Venez nous rejoindre et devenez les « fantômes » de la police égyptienne

 

 

Salut,

 

Je vous envoie ce message car je sais je vais vous faire sourire.

 

Aujourd'hui, Christian et son épouse, sont revenus dans le camp de Rafah, après de nombreuses ruses. Généralement, la police arrête tous ceux qui ressemblent à des étrangers. 

Rappelez-vous Ellen, Don, Micheline et les autres comment ils avaient l'habitude de vous arrêter et de vous faire rebrousser chemin. Ici, nous jouons au chat et à la souris avec les checkpoints de la police.


Oui, ils ont stoppé Christian et son épouse et les ont renvoyés à Al-Arish. Ce fût une situation d'urgence et nous étions toujours au téléphone jusqu'à ce que nous réussissions à faire venir Chris et sa femme à la porte de Rafah avec les autres.

 

Les copains, Paki, Chris et moi avons éclaté de rire quand nous avons parlé de la tête qu’ont faite les policiers lorsqu’ils ont vu apparaître Chris et sa femme à Rafah. C’était vraiment à ne pas rater!

 

Avez-vous déjà vu la tête de quelqu'un quand il voit un fantôme? Je suppose que non, mais c’est une description de la situation:)) 

Paki m'a dit qu'elle et Martha avaient escaladé la grille de la salle de bain fermée à clé pour y arriver. 

Venez nous rejoindre pour devenir le "fantôme" de la police égyptienne:))

 

En solidarité

 

Iman

 


-- 
In Solidarity 
from all 
International Movement to Open Rafah Border

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9986479902


"Only a united world against oppression will help unite and free all of Palestine." 

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country