notes of a non-combatant

the road to gaza: day one, cairo

In a large room full of fresh faces and unfamiliar names, I mingled with the crowd and chatted with whoever came my way. Despite being in a hectic and bustling city like Cairo, where it’s hard to keep both your bearing and your sanity at the same time, all of the anxiety of preparing for the delegation seemed to fade into the distant past. Suddenly shy faces turned to smiles, small talk turned into powerful conversations, and the CodePink delegation began to form the family it will ultimately become over the following week. Starting tomorrow, we will be spending our time heading to the Rafah border crossing and attempting entry into the Gaza Strip, as well as touring the besieged and heavily damaged Palestinian territory for several days. “Excitement” and “joy” fail to convey the depth of emotion that coursed through the air when the delegation met for an orientation this evening. To say the least, we are ready to head to Gaza City!

More information on the delegation can be found in the press release that CodePink issued tonight:

With the upcoming visit of President Obama to Cairo on June 4, a 66-person delegation, including Americans from 18 states, leaves Cairo on May 29 for the Gaza Strip. The group of peace activists, bringing toys and building playgrounds for the traumatized children of Gaza, has launched an international petition calling on Obama to visit Gaza and see the destruction for himself. They will return to Cairo on June 4 in time to deliver to the U.S. Embassy the petition asking Obama to visit the war-torn region and to push Israel and Egypt to open the borders.

³We think if President Obama is serious about being even-handed and reversing our country¹s past favoritism towards Israel then he should visit Gaza himself,² says Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK that organized the delegation. ³We¹re sure that if he saw and heard about the suffering personally, he would put the required pressure on the governments of both Israel and Egypt to open the borders now.²

CODEPINK is calling on concerned citizens everywhere to sign its petition to President Obama by visiting
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/t/8834/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=18 . They will deliver the signatures to the U.S. Embassy during Obama¹s visit, and hold a rally calling on the U.S. to stop funding Israeli war crimes. ³If President Obama can, at the last minute, add a visit to Saudi Arabia to have a private dinner with the King, then he certainly can go to Gaza,² said Col. Ann Wright, co-leader of the delegation and a retired U.S. Army colonel and a former U.S. diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war.

CODEPINK, a women-led peace group, has led several delegations to Gaza to witness, firsthand, the devastation caused by the 22 day Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip that began in December, 2009. The group is particularly concerned about the children of Gaza, who make up more than half of the population. Approximately 400 children were killed during the 22 day attack and an estimated 1,346 Gazan children were left without one or both of their parents as a result of the recent Israeli assault.  The majority of the children in Gaza were traumatized by the attack and invasion.

The international delegation, which will enter Gaza at the invitation of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA), will visit with social service agencies that care for children, deliver sports equipment and toys to schools, and build three playgrounds.