Sandra Tamari: Why I'm Going to Gaza
At a sending ceremony held Monday evening in St. Louis, Sandra Tamari offered the following reflections on her reasons for going to Gaza. Sandra used the pseudonym, Sandra Mansour, in the appeal to Elie Wiesel out of fear of being barred from future travel to Israel. She's changed her mind and wants to use her real name in connection with the Gaza Freedom March.
Why I’m going to Gaza
Because Palestine keeps me up at night
Because my kids are a "demographic threat"
Because I am not taken seriously because I am a Palestinian
Because anyone who does take me seriously is called an anti-semite
Or a self-hating Jew
Because I can’t imagine the anguish of the people there--
and because I can
Because I’ve lived comfortably for too long
Because an ice storm that cuts off electricity for a week leaves me
crazy and being a refugee for 61 years is too longBecause living comes from feeling deep hurt and love and not from
Christmas presentsBecause suffering makes us real
Because my community loves me
Because my family loves me
Because I love….
I am going because I belong to a strong and committed humanistic
tradition: Palestinian: Ghassan Kanafani, Mahmoud Darwish, Edward
Said, Suheir Hammad; and Quaker: Lucretia Mott, Walt Whitman, Rufus
Jones.Because others would do it for me
I am going to Gaza because Hedy is going...and she helps me tell
Palestinians that Jews are not devils or angels, they are human beingsI am going to Gaza because J'Ann is going and she helps me tell
Palestinians that Americans are not devils or angels, they are human
beings;and I know they will hold hands with those with broken souls and mourn with them
And finally because you, dear people, will be here waiting when we
return to listen to us, to cry with us and to help us know what to do
with our grace and our burden.
3 Saint Louisans are leaving on December 26 to join the Gaza Freedom March. This is the latest email information:
Dear Friend of CTSA,
Here are two important updates regarding the Gaza Freedom March.
1. Hedy Epstein and others from Egypt and Gaza will be on DEMOCRACY NOW! Thursday speaking about the upcoming Gaza Freedom March. You can listen to the program live between 7 and 8AM CST at http://www.democracynow.or.
2. Egypt has denied permission to the 1350 people from more than 40 countries to march from Cairo to the Gaza border. Details and a request for your action follow.
-------------------------
Please read and please, please take the actions outlined in this update from the Gaza Freedom March organizers. Please do this NOW and help us get to Gaza. Every call, every e-mail counts and will make this historic March possible. Please DO NOT let us down. Instead, CALL
- SEND e-mails, as often as you can. Send copies of your letters and emails to your Congresspeople and Senators.
Peace,
Hedy
Gaza Freedom March
UPDATE
December 21, 2009
We are determined to break the siege
We all will continue to do whatever we can to make it happen
*
*
Using the pretext of escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed us yesterday that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege, that we do not feel threatened, and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take. We also said that it was too late for over 1,300 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans now. We both agreed to continue our exchanges.
Although we consider this as a setback, it is something we've encountered-and overcome--before. No delegation, large or small, that entered Gaza over the past 12 months has ever received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border. Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.
Our efforts and plans will not be altered at this point. We have set out to break the siege of Gaza and march on December 31* against the Israeli blockade*. We are continuing in the same direction.
Egyptian embassies and missions all over the world must hear from us and our supporters (by phone, fax and email)** over the coming crucial days, with a clear message: Let the international delegation enter Gaza and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed.
Contact your local consulate here:
Portal/en-GB/mfa_websits/Contact the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo Ahmed Azzam, tel +202-25749682 Email: ahmed.azzam@mfa.gov.eg
In the U.S., contact the Egyptian Embassy, 202-895-5400 and ask for Omar Youssef or email omaryoussef@hotmail.com
*You signed on to join the the Gaza Freedom March, that was the first step. Now call the Egyptian embassy and ask your elected official to call on your behalf. Contact your local media/press to tell them you are going to Gaza. Then pack your bags and come to Cairo ready to march with our brothers and sisters in Gaza. *
We look forward to seeing you all in the coming week.
The GFM Steering Committee
/
/
/* /* Sample text
I am writing/calling to express my full support for the December 31,
2009 Gaza Freedom March. I urge the Egyptian government to allow the 1,300 international delegates to enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt.
The aim of the march is to call on Israel to lift the siege. The delegates will also take in badly needed medical aid, as well as school supplies and winter jackets for the children of Gaza.
Please, let this historic March proceed.
Thank you.
--
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