Remember the journalists imprisoned by North Korea? Big story. The hikers held by Iran. Ditto. Well why isn’t Hani Almadhoun a story. He may not be in prison, but his situation is hardly different: he’s a grants administrator for the Jerusalem Fund in Washington, and he’s been trapped for over three months in Gaza, because of his ethnicity. The Salt Lake Tribune has the story. But who else?
I have tried on several occasions to exit, always unsuccessfully. The Rafah crossing, the only outlet Gazans have to the world, used to process 3,000 travelers a day. Now it takes days or weeks.
The local government has its own priorities and has wait-listed me and countless others. The Egyptians have bigger regional concerns. Israeli officials will not allow me to use the Erez crossing because they discriminate against me as a Palestinian. Fifteen Palestinian Americans I know here face the same treatment.
My biggest disappointment during this ordeal comes from American officials. One official abrasively told me, "You are on your own." It’s demoralizing. I have no doubt that if my name were Joe Smith, rather than Hani Almadhoun, I would already be back in my office in Washington.
Allowing an ally to trap me and American citizens is not consistent with the principles of Obama’s America. The officials at the American Consulate in Jerusalem told me they would help evacuate me and other trapped Americans only if there was war. No sane person would hope for war in order to get back home.
