The Day of Ashura

Today, Sunni Muslims were fasting to commemorate the day Moses liberated the Israelites from the Egyptian Pharaoh.  Meanwhile, 1360 people from across the world have convened in Cairo.We want to enter Gaza and march alongside Palestinians; commemorating the Israeli attack that killed 1400 Gazans. The Egyptian government has done everything in its power to prevent the historic march from taking place.

A lot has happened since our last post. We have been kicked out of our hostel, questioned by the Egyptians secret police, and taken advantage of by local tourist tea houses. Here is a brief and somewhat sketchy chronology of the last 24hrs:

Dec 26
22:00-1:00 - 3 shishas, 4 teas, a pack of peanuts, and an hour of conversation = not priceless, in fact it costs 185 Egyptian Pounds (ie. $37 USD). With that being said, we made the mistake of hanging out in a tourist hub.

Dec 27: Day of Ashura
8:30: Orientation meeting with Ann Wright, a GFM organizer and Code-Pink executive. In sum, Ann sent us strong signals that we were not expected to make it to the Rafah Crossing by the 28th as planned. The Egyptian government had now taken away our meeting permits and  bus licenses. Plans were being drawn to try to escort small groups or individuals to Al-Arish (40 km from Gaza). Abdu, Salah and I are still not certain if we are going to give it a shot. We must consider the five checkpoints and the possibility of deportation.
A parallel program was being organized in Cairo. Ann told us that at 11AM, people were meeting at the Kisr Al-Nil bridge to tie ribbons and personal notes for the people of Gaza. At 1630, we would ride on Faluqa Boats (boats that entertain tourists along the Nile) and symbolically place 1400 biodegradable floating candles on the Nile to commemorate the one year anniversary of the beginning of Operation Cast Lead on Gaza. Then at 1930, we are to meet at Tahir Square for orientation, now that meeting permits had been revoked.

12:00: Due to a misunderstanding on our hostel's part, they double-booked our room. We had to move all of our stuff from the Hostel Brother to the Australian Hostel down the road. Quite the hassle on an already rambunctious day.

13:30: We did not attend the ribbon tying ceremony at the bridge, but we just received news that the police was being very confrontational and uncooperative. After dispersing the crowd, it took the police 10 minutes to rip and dispose of all of those messages.

16:30: We arrived late to the Faluqa Boats (which, literally means Boat Boats). We were still in the taxi when the Athan for Maghrib sang out through Cairo. It was at least 5 PM. The taxi dropped us off right in front of a crowd of 200 foreigners. There was also plenty of police -most of them sporting mustaches, two way radios, and civilian clothing. The police canceled all Faluqa action for the evening. Our reservations of 25 boats were being disregarded and suddenly there was 200 to 300 foreigners standing on the sidewalks of the Corniche (right in front of the Hyatt). Like good peaceful activists, we began to walk and sing! The police, whose numbers were exponentially growing, formed a human chain around the entire group halting all movement. We weren't going anywhere.
The secret police, with their unusually large frames and evading smiles, were particularly interested in the three of us. Arabs or Foreigners? Why did we have video cameras? Why were we taking pictures of them? I was asked if I was Egyptian by at least 5 different officers -could you imagine if would have said yes? Jail? Deportation? The police was joined by 10-15 news correspondents. It was quite the scene - everyone was confused, jet lagged and very keen to finally have their voices being heard.

19:30 We, again, arrived late. We met our regional group as it was disbanding. We understood that if we wanted to try to make into Gaza; we would have to be very patient and very hopeful. Simultaneously, contingency plans were emerging, but they would be known as they happened. The possibility of the 1300 foreigners marching alongside 40-50,000 Gazans was now a distant reality. Even though we hadn't lost hope in reaching Gaza before 2010, it sounded like the Egyptian Regime was being ridiculously difficult. Tomorrow at 7AM, we will head to the Garage and make an attempt to embark buses headed for Al-Arish. Organizers say the buses will never arrive.

Stay tuned: Will we make it to Al-Arish? Will the Egyptian government cede to the pressure and allow international participants into Gaza? Will I finally be able to upload a video onto this blog?!

www.gazafreedommarch.org