Back To The Border

We (Paki Weiland and I and Egyptian colleagues) have been in Cairo for three days and have failed 2 times to be allowed into the US Embassy to talk with someone about the closing of the Rafah border gate. We must have the correct names and paperwork in place despite the fact that the Egyptian government is unaccountable to anyone about accepting or rejecting paperwork of those who are trying to cross. It seems that arbitrary decisions and misinformation are the norm. We met one man from Houston, Texas who is American Palestinian and his wife and 3 kids were let through; he was not. They are now on the "other side" with no husband/father, money, or support. He was told to go back to Cairo (a day's trip away) to get another piece of paper and when he came back they still said no. 

We will try to follow up with the information given to us from our representatives about how to get into the Embassy, however it is the 4th of July holiday and no one was available on the 1st for this same reason. My contact from my representative's office said the Embassy does not know you are at the door or that you are US citizens. But we know that we have knocked on the door and have been heard. We also presented ourselves to the Foreign Ministry and they could not understand how we would even think that there would be help there. 

And so we will continue to play David and Goliath and hope that our GI tracts will keep supporting the effort. Paki is teaching me much with her amazing experience as an activist. This morning's daily reading in  John:2024-29  speaks about Thomas who had to put his hands into the wounds of Jesus to believe. I am putting myself into these wounds of the Holy Land and yes I believe we can keep up the struggle only with God's invisible hand providing comfort and protection. 

The press conference went well yesterday and we hope the wall of silence will be penetrated. Leaving Suli for this is mind blowing but every step of my way seems to be orchestrated for a good reason. The sit in is into the 22nd day, spread the word and send more people. Love and being willing to feel the pain of the other is the only solution.