AUCians in Gaza Find Suffering and Devastation ‘Worse than we Thought’

Forty-five Egyptian and interna­tional students from AUC set off for Gaza on November 24. According to Taher El Moataz Bellah, the Student Union (SU) president, the trip was set up to deliver medical supplies and relief aid in a show of support for the Palestinian people.

What the AUC group – and an additional entourage of some 70 stu­dents from the German University in Cairo – found of devastation when they finally arrived in Gaza left them at a loss for words.

But the endeavor to reach Gaza was itself not without serious chal­lenges. The convoy moved through Ismailia, west of the Suez Canal, but had to stop at El Salam Bridge which leads to Sinai.

Sherif Adham, a construction engineering sophomore, said that Egyptian officials did not allow them to pass at first due to the unrest in the Sinai and the violence in the Gaza strip.

“We all gathered and discussed what to do, while Taher spoke to some offi­cials,” Adham said.

When negotiations with Egyptian officials reached an impasse, the students opted for civil disobedi­ence by staging a sit-in at the borders which cause a three-kilometer traffic congestion.

“After a lengthy debate, one of the police officials allowed us to enter and sent out police cars for our safety from North Sinai to the city of Arish,” he added.

However, harsh weather conditions and a sudden hailstorm forced the students to stop yet again.

AUC students stayed at the Swiss Inn hotel while GUC students were taken to another hotel nearby for the night.

On Friday morning, they convoy prepared for the final leg of their journey to Rafah, but were met with an unexpected snag.

“Since we had international stu­dents with us, the police did not want us to cross into Gaza,” Adham said.

“We didn’t have any permits from the General Intelligence Service,” he added. He explained that the stum­bling block arose because of the issue of exit visas from Egypt and entry visas into Gaza for the foreign contin­gent among the convoy.

Finally, Egyptian students were allowed to cross into Gaza with their national IDs, but foreigners had to get their passports stampled.

Mahroh Jahangiri, an American exchange student, said she hopes that the entry stamp doesn’t create a security issue for her in the US.

“We didn’t go for political reasons, but to donate [supplies] and see the state of the country,” she said.

Another American exchange stu­dent, who prefers to remain anony­mous for security reasons, expressed worry about her passport getting stamped.

“I’m not quite sure of the conse­quences, I didn’t expect this to hap­pen, it’s kind of scary, because I went for a humanitarian cause,” she said.

She admitted that at one point she was thinking of turning back.

“I’m glad that I didn’t, though,” she told The Caravan. She says the trip taught her a lot about Gaza and what Palestinians are going through.

“People [in Gaza] are deprived of their livelihood, of everything; their whole context is under this notion of a blockade,” she said.

“They don’t have access to any­thing as everything belongs to their [Israeli] occupier.”

“The next generation of children will grow up living in fear, never expecting peace,” she added.

“I didn’t feel my safety was ever at risk, it was something I really wanted to do.”

Hassaballah El Kafrawi, a physics junior, viewed the whole passport issue differently.

“I wish I had my passport stamped, it’s a political stand acknowledging the country of Palestine,” he said,

“I felt safer in Palestine than I felt in Sinai,” El Kafrawi said.

“The Palestinian people took very good care of us. We didn’t feel we were guests, everything went very smoothly unlike back home.”

Engineering sophomore Adham says the students delivered medical supplies to Hamas representatives, who then redistributed the aid to those most in need.

Students also visited Al Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza.

Some talked to hospital officials and medical staff, while others, like Jahangiri and her friends, had food to give out to the injured and the victims.

“We saw about seven or eight peo­ple with severe injuries … there was shrapnel that had gone through their legs in all different directions,” she said.

But perhaps one of the most vivid memories students will find hard to forget is the plight of a Palestiian man called Daluw. He lost 11 mem­bers of his family during the Israeli air raids and bombardment.

Jahangiri said that it was very hard on her because she could still see the kids’ clothes, and the unwashed dishes, amid all the rubble and debris.

“[Daluw] was very upset, but he knew it was going to come some day,” El Kafrawi said.

“If it had happened to a family here [Egypt], the man would have com­mitted suicide…,” El Kafrawi added.

Daluw, in a sign of despair, asked members of the convoy ‘Was it my daughter of two years or my daughter of seven that threatened Israel?'”

In a surprising twist, Egyptian stu­dents were introduced to members of the Ezz Al Din Al Qassam Brigade, Hamas’ military wing, who explained the workings of the Palestinian oppo­sition, and later took questions.

Jahangiri said that she wanted to go to Gaza because there were many pro-Israel demonstrations in her uni­versity in the US.

She was hoping to “cause some drama on campus by going [to Gaza]” as many of the students know noth­ing about the other perspective.

“My country is responsible for the suffering of many Palestinians,” she said.

“America supports Israel finan­cially through our taxes which go towards the military policy – it’s disgusting.”