Traveling to Gaza is a frustrating process. I'm trying to get things right before I leave in two weeks, but tracking down the official rules and regulations is not easy matter. If I had a dollar for every minute I've spent searching for them. I'd have enough money to pay for the trip.
Last week I turned to the US Government for help.
My Pennsylvania Congressman's office agreed to contact the Egyptian Embassy with hopes of obtaining all the information I need regarding documents and paperwork for crossing from Egypt into Gaza and back. I've also asked them to inquire about granting me prior approval to cross into Gaza and stay for six weeks and return to Egypt. I requested they ask the Congressman about writing a letter for me ....well...I don't think ...ah..that's a...possibility....
I said I wasn't asking for a "letter of support"! But couldn't he just write that he knows I'm aware there's an advisory against traveling to Gaza; that I am willing to sign away my rights to counsel; that he knows me, I'm sincere, intelligent, wonderful, creative, etc and if he could he would write a letter of support. (But AIPAC won't let him.)
Congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey (whose district neighbors mine) has traveled to Gaza and been vocal about the need to lift the blockade and siege. I called his Washington office asking for a letter of support for my trip....We're sorry, protocol dictates members of Congress provide services only to the people they represent, their constituents...
Believing protocol can be fudged when warranted, I spoke about Gaza, last year's visit, this year's opportunity...Congressman Holt's position, how I admire his courage to speak out... he speaks for me! He certainly does "represent me" in Congress on the issue of Gaza. His aid then said he would take my request to the Congressman.
People ask if I have fears about being in Gaza. No, I honestly don't! However, there are two fears related to the trip.What if my papers aren't in order and I am not allowed to cross into Gaza? I'm doing everything in my power to see that doesn't happen. The other fear is lack of funds. I can get to Gaza and return. I can stay in a no star hotel and cut back on my food budget but I am almost running on empty. Things important to me...taking art supplies to the children's centers...are becoming impossible to include.
Phil Weiss has been supportive of me and my passion for Gaza since the first day we were there in May 2009. He urged me to appeal to readers for ideas of gaining support/endorsement for my trip. Don't hesitate to get in touch with me at susandtjohnson@yahoo.com
Susan Johnson will be volunteering at Afaq Jadeeda Association (New Horizons) in the N Refugee Camp and the Qattan Center for the Child in Gaza City. She last wrote about her trip plans here.
Congress has totally forgotten that their first duty is to serve their constituents, not the lobby.
Excellent point. That simple fact is what is being entirely ignored here.
No they have not forgotten, many might say in private, but to get or stay in office to help their constituents they need campagin money. Minimum stats show that 40% of all democratic funds and 25% of all republican funds come from our 2% jewish community here in the USA.
How much of the nation’s wealth does this 2% control? It must be a hell of a lot, since it seems to have bought the entire government, the majority of the mass media, the institutions of higher learning and scores of think tanks.
It’s almost equivalent to the game of “Risk” where as you amass your territories controlled, it increases your ability to exercise control. Furthermore, alliances (in Risk – various players, in life – political, business, media, finance, academic, etc.) help solidify this control.
When so many of the key players have a particular agenda (or shared allegiances), is it any wonder the extent that control is so consolidated?
I think it’s like karate, where it’s not so much the force but the application of the force. This money is carefully targeted.
And the other side gets minimal funding simply because so few people give a damn. Zionists care intensely about their cause, like all fanatics.
I think “disposable funds” (or lack of) is in play as well as apathy.
Maybe now that corporations have personhood status, they can choose to halt the Zionist juggernaut (yeah, right). What possible repurcussions could that entail (lots, actually)?
But staying in office has nothing to do with their duty.
Yup. Upholding the Constitution is pretty much at the top of the list and the one they most often seem to treat as inconsequential.
Also, rather than the literal definition of “forgotten,” I think “ignored” or “disregarded” is the context being used here. In that sense, it still holds up as entirely accurate.
As in def #2 and #3 -
from: link to merriam-webster.com
Main Entry: for·get
Pronunciation: \fər-ˈget, fȯr-\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): for·got \-ˈgät\; for·got·ten \-ˈgä-tən\ or for·got; for·get·ting
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English forgietan, from for- + -gietan (akin to Old Norse geta to get)
Date: before 12th century
transitive verb 1 a : to lose the remembrance of : be unable to think of or recall b obsolete : to cease from doing
2 : to treat with inattention or disregard
3 a : to disregard intentionally : overlook —usually used in the imperative b : to give up hope for or expectation of —usually used in the imperative
The Rafah crossing, which Susan Johnson will need to use, has been closed for long periods in the past. Currently it seems to be open, but who knows for how long? Wikipedia:
‘On June 1, 2010, Egypt opened the crossing until further notice after the Israeli flotilla raid event in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea. As of June 2, movement at the crossing was slow, for unclear bureaucratic reasons.’
Basically Israel wants to act as the gatekeeper for foreigners entering Gaza (as it rather emphatically emphasized in the case of the Mavi Marmara.) Going through the ‘back door’ will instinctively disturb our Junior Knesset members in Washington DC. It just ain’t right. It’s disrespectful.
It might actually be easier to invest in a few cases of bootleg Marlboros and enter Gaza through a smuggling tunnel — no visa required, in the universal language of commerce. And no bureaucratic retribution upon returning home — visiting Gaza is more ideologically questionable these days than vacationing in Communist Cuba.
After all, Commies have proven to be tractable adversaries. Whereas Hamas — so we are told by the Bush-Obama-Netanyahu administration — consists of fanatical terrorists. Thus, aiding Gaza amounts to giving aid and comfort to our enemies, say some Likudnik Junior Knesset members in Washington such as Brad Sherman (D-Israel).
link to thehill.com
Back in apartheid days, white South Africans weren’t permitted to enter black townships such as Soweto. But there were special tours for foreigners (daylight hours only). Maybe our Junior Knesset members would be open to establishing a similar variety of carefully-vetted Gaza slum tourism, in line with our nation’s long-established humanitarian ideals.
Susan, what is the Egyptian Embassy saying? Aren’t they the ones that can issue your visa and crossing docs?
Susan, if you have art supplies you want to bring in, arrange with the Egyptian Embassy to alert the hotel you’ll be staying at in Egypt, then use a Twitter — and maybe HuffPo — campaign to get supporters to UPS the supplies to Egypt for when you arrive. Then you wont have to carry them. Use this site to distribute your twitter name and it can go down a bunch of twitter threads.
UPS just started their cardboard suitcase campaign for air travelers, complete with little handles.
Also, get in touch with George Galloway here and see if he has any ideas to help. He’s had a lot of experience getting the permissions to cross:
link to georgegalloway.com
Direct Galloway to this post of yours.
I would gladly send a UPS suitcase full of art supplies to Egypt.
Because Holt’s first instinct as a human being was to albeit mildly Criticize those replusive Israeli’s thugs for their acts of violence — the equally repulsive thugs on the American side decided it was time keep him in check!
June 16, 2010
“…Speaking before some 40 NORPAC members, Sipprelle attacked the sitting legislator, who has served in the House since 1999, for criticizing Israel’s blockade of Gaza and showing “a lack of moral clarity that has begun to unnerve not only Israel but her allies in the region.”
What especially upset Sipprelle and his supporters, he said, was that Holt was among the 54 House members who signed a letter to President Barack Obama last January…’
link to njjewishnews.com
Holt’s repentance of his sins: