Blockading Families And Disrupting Lives…Part 1
by Brian Lenzo | Saturday, July 11th, 2009

While we wait for the authorities to sort out the paper work for our trucks and get moving onto Al-Arish, I have had a number of opportunities to speak with convoy participants about their story.  Yesterday, I sat down with one of them on the beach of Alexandria, Egypt to find out why he was on the convoy and to listen to his story.

For all the hyperbole about secruity and exisential threats to peace, the reality of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza strip, and the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe) is this man.  Khaled.

Khaled works in Wisconsin for a company that sells equipment to hospitals.  He has a college education as does most of his family.  He has 7 sisters and 2 brothers.  One brother works for the International Red Crescent in Gaza, the other at Al Sharif hospital in Gaza City.

Khaled hasn’t seen his family in over 2 years due to the blockade and embargo despite numerous attempts to enter.  His family was expelled from their homes by Israeli gangs and military in the 1948 war. The 1967 war only codified the occupation of the rest of Palestine and made life much more difficult for his family.

A transcribed interview is coming soon in Part 2

Tags: 1948, 1967, blockade, egypt, embargo, Gaza, gaza strip, Israel, nakba, occupation, Palestine, Viva Palestina

9:29 am. Viva Palestina.