It's happening in Cairo and I'm missing it!

The Gaza Freedom March is waiting it out in Cairo....demonstrating,,,,unable to enter Gaza as they'd planned and thought. They'd worked with the Egyptian government for months only to find them saying last week that the Rafa crossing would be closed until mid-January. Shock! ....the French are outraged; camping out in front of their Embassy; which has blocked one of the major roadways in Cairo.

My friend Emma , sent a text this morning from Cairo saying she and others were being detained in the US Embassy...she was OK and would send pictures....which haven't arrived. I do know, as much as one can know under these circumstances, that the Americans are no longer being detained. So she must be out and about.

There are a number of people on hunger strikes until Egypt gives GFM access to the the Rafah crossing and Gaza. One of those is Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor who's 85 years old. Hedy went to the West Bank in 2004 with WCA and was my roommate for much of the trip. She's a very tiny woman, but a giant when it comes to speaking out and standing up for what she believes in.

Sammer also went to Gaza in May; he's somewhere among the 1,400 GFM participants. And I hope he's taking pictures because his are fantastic. It's thanks to him that my slide presentation is so well received....my pictures in Gaza were pitiful!

One of the organizers of the GFM is Felice Gelman who organized the trip our delegation took in May. Felice had everything smoothly worked out for our group...doing so much negotiating and follow up prior to our leaving that we were the very first group passing through the Rafah border crossing on their first try! Felice made that happen!

And then there's Philip Weiss; an investigative reporter, whose blog "mondoweiss" is extremely well read. He traveled with us in May and made the GFM trip to Cairo and hopefully Gaza. He was a definite asset to our delegation...asking great questions...offering background information...reacting openly and emotionally to the trauma of Gaza....and using his wonderful sense of humor at all the right times. He certainly helped to keep me "glued together."

His posts about the happenings have been clear and concise...a blessing really. It's difficult to read so many variations about what's happening...some accounts are easy to spot distortions or very biased toward a particular group or view. Not Philip....he tells it like it is and when he's offering his "view or hopes" he says so.

And I wish I were there!!! It must be an amazing experience; especially for those from the US who are exposed to only the US take on most topics or happenings and quite "un-worldly" They are getting a dose of life in the real world. The US is playing a major role in Palestine/Gaza ....their, our?, role is not a very nice one! They back Israel every step of the way; rarely if ever disagreeing or acknowledging when Israel is wrong....not even saying anything when Israel officials make our President, leaders and country look foolish. Take the settlement issue for a prime example! Yet we provide them 3.5 BILLION dollars in MILITARY aid per year!

Next comes Egypt who also receives enormous amounts of US aid and pressure from Israel and the US...It's not a very pretty picture. Unfortunately, most of us in the US have not a clue what the rest of the world sees, knows, believes and thinks about the situation (any situation for that matter) Those on the GFM are receiving an education; I'm certain of that.

I wish I was in the Cairo classroom with them.