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Our orientation meeting was tonight and we had our first chance to meet the other delegates. We went around the room for introductions of this amazing group of people. It was heartening to see many young people, including a lively group from New Orleans! There is a nice mix of people who have been to Palestine before — some with the previous CodePink delegation — as well as many first-timers. Though most are U.S. citizens, it is also a very international delegation with people from Canada, Australia, Portugal and Scotland as well as a few Egyptians who will be joining us. Author Norman Finkelstein is also with us. And when asked how many people are bringing video cameras, about 10 hands shot up. So this should be a very well documented trip!
Everyone shared their reasons for making the trip. Sitting right next to one another was a Lebanese American who grew up hearing about the plight of the Palestinian people and a woman whose family were zionists and therefore grew up hearing a very different story. Many talked about the very positivie, if at times surprised, reaction they got from Egyptians here when they told them about our delegation to Gaza.
Tomorrow we will leave Cairo on a 4-5 hour bus trip to Al-Arish, about 25 Km from the Rafah crossing. We will be meeting at 8am for a media event — the press have been invited to come take photos of the playgrounds we will be taking to Gaza, which we will set up in the bus parking lot. And the following day, if all goes according to plan, we will cross into Gaza.
One very important factor working on our favor to get us through the Rafah crossing is Obama’s trip to Egypt on June 4. The last thing the Egyptian authorities want is a group of mostly U.S. citizens camped out at the border with toys and school supplies not being allowed in to the children of Gaza.
Category: trip preparation
