This article is a prime example of the restrictions forced on the people in Gaza. The restrictions are nonsensical and inhumane, especially when they involve children and those needing medical treatment.
The fact that the US awarded an additional 50 million dollars to "improve" the Rafah Border crossing causes my stomach to tie up into knots. How can Israel, Egypt and the US carry out these acts that cause terror in the lives of so many yet not be labeled terrorists?
His room is ready. The walls have fresh paint and my kids prepared a basket of chocolates and other treats to place beside his bed.
They hung a poster on his door that has been decorated with coloured pens and glitter that says "Welcome Sobhi!"
I have taught them that "Sobhi" means the "morning light" and that during his visit he will not be treated as a visitor but as a brother.
They have compiled a list of fun places to visit - parks, the beach and maybe a ferry ride.
Two weeks ago, my family, after months of anticipation, were scheduled to be the host family for a very special exchange programme for Gazan kids to visit the US.
Our host child Sobhi was slated to arrive on May 30.
My family was excited and a little nervous. I noticed my wife taking every opportunity to share news of the arrival of our special visitor. We rang Sobhi's family from time to time, realising that sending a child off to a foreign land to live with a strange family can be unsettling for a parent. But I think our occasional conversations helped put everyone at ease.
As time has progressed, we have learned more of Sobhi's life and family in Gaza.
We first thought he was 11 years old, but we then learned that he is actually 15. We originally thought his family lived in the town of Khan Yunis, but we later found out that he is from the northern town of Beit Lahia. We thought that he was maimed when his house was demolished in the Israeli attack of January 2009, but we then later learned that his leg was in fact blown off by an Israeli tank shell when the army opened fire on his family while they were farming their land.
So, day by day, we are learning more about this fine young boy's tragic lot.
Growing numbers of children forever maimed, dismembered and killed by Israel are not only somehow disregarded by the world media and therefore the world's conscience but are even denied access to health care.
Sobhi is one of many Gazan children who have been taken under the wing of the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), a non-profit, US-based organisation that organises medical exchange programmes, sending injured children abroad for treatment when it is inaccessible in Palestine.
I cannot express my admiration and gratefulness for the tireless work of the PCRF staff. But in anticipation of Sobhi's arrival, I can't escape the irony of how this unassuming son of a Gazan farmer, whose life has been forever altered by a US-subsidised tank shell, is now venturing alone across the world to be the recipient of another US manufactured implement - a plastic leg.
And now, as if things could get any worse, even the possibility of getting Sobhi here seems grim.
Coming from Gaza, Sobhi must cross the Rafah border to begin his journey from Cairo. But Egypt is refusing to grant him entry. It is a predicament that so many Gazans face following the January massacres.
When Barack Obama spoke in Cairo on January 4, the closest major city was Gaza, where children flooded the border, imploring the US leader to exert some pressure on Israel to open the border and end the blockade that has imprisoned the entire population for nearly two years.
Children held banners with slogans saying: "A light of hope for Gaza children" and "Gaza children appeal for help." Sahar Abu Foul, a nine-year-old girl who attended the rally, said that the children in Gaza want Obama's help "to secure a life like all other children."
But with his rigorous schedule, Obama couldn't pencil in a visit to the border to address this young crowd.
However, just before his arrival, Congress invested further money in fortifying the border area, allocating an addition $50 million (£30.5 million) to secure the Rafah border, making Sobhi's crossing all the more unlikely.
So the days pass. I telephone Sobhi, who speaks with maturity and courtesy on the phone, inquiring about my health, the health of my family and asking that God will grant us lives of good health and other mercies.
His medical charts say that he is overcoming his depression and simply wants to join his father in the fields again.
He has uncomplicated aspirations and a seemingly simple request - an artificial leg.
His father, soft-spoken and a bit shy, seems to be resigned to the unfortunate possibility of his son not coming to the US after all.
I continue to encourage him, but I myself also feel that this special and unusual exchange may have been too good to be true.
Sobhi says that he hopes that he will be able to help with the olive harvest this year. But sometimes having hope in a place like Gaza becomes more of a liability than a lifeline.
Ramzy Baroud is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle Of A People's Struggle.
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