This morning we went the Erez Crossing into Gaza. Gaza is under complete siege by the state of Israel which blocks the region’s 1.43 million people, 80% of whom are refugees, by land, air, and water. The Erez crossing, like all crossings into Gaza, is currently closed. This crossing is one of the crossings where the very, very limited number of people affiliated with NGOs and the international press (no Israeli press) enter Gaza and where the very lucky Gazans who require specialized medical care and are given permission to get care outside of Gaza cross.
One of our delegates its a Palestinian American whose parents were both born in Gaza and who still has family and land in Gaza. She went up to the crossing checkpoint to hear directly from the guards why should could not visit her family and return to her homeland. She was told that she need a special code number. She cleverly asked whether the guard meant the Prime Minister of Gaza or Israel? I guess the guard didn’t find that all that funny. He meant the President of Israel.
Many of us in the delegation approached a German man as he was exiting Gaza to hear what he had to say. He told us he has been in and out of Gaza for four years covering the situation there for German public radio and that his connection in Gaza was a taxi driver who is the sole breadwinner for his extended family of 65 people.
Once the Israeli soldiers and guards started to get frustrated about our presence at the checkpoint, we hoped back in our bus in order to avoid any conflict and headed to S’derot, the closest Israeli town to the Erez checkpoint and Gaza to hear about the experiences there.
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