6:22 PM Apr 5th · Heading to Egyptian Embassy in DC 2morrow morn 2 get a letter of consent for Palestinian travelers to Rafah Crossing after 5 no-show faxes
3:35 PM Apr 7th · arrived in Cairo- am not being allowed through the airpot. been waiting w/ kids for 4 hours now. can’t go back to US-visa expired.
3:41 PM Apr 7th · thank god for free wifi in Cairo airport. despite the interogation and detentino.
4:11 PM Apr 7th · am now being told I will be deported “somewhere”
4:19 PM Apr 7th · sitting next to a snoring sudanese man and a roach yousuf just crushed
4:34 PM Apr 7th · this is weird- I am opening noor’s cot in the airport for her to sleep in. i think I’m going to film this.
6:58 PM Apr 7th · hour 6 in egyptian detention. low level official told me they plan to deport me to teh UK-even though I have no visa
6:59 PM Apr 7th · Yousuf asked me: why are they not allowing us through? what did we do? and why did they allow Israelis through but not us?
4:35 AM Apr 8th · still stuck: hour 15. now told i will be deported back to the US even though I have no valid visa there. told paln [Palestinian] are not allowed in
4:36 AM Apr 8th · was told that there is a high order not to allow palns into egypt if rafah is closed-even though egy. consul in DC gave me written approval
4:37 AM Apr 8th · i suggested I could parachute into Gaza and avoid Egypt altogether
4:42 AM Apr 8th · this must be a VERY high order because every call I have made has failed. I told them its not my fault egypt is in the way to my home
4:45 AM Apr 8th · i keep getting told “the gaza situation is very special” , as in “you are not human, you have no rights” special
5:00 AM Apr 8th · new information: apparently, I am a security and political threat
7:25 AM Apr 8th · will be shocked if Yousuf and Noor’s immune system survives this 24 jolt – eating and sleeping off roach ridden premises included
8:00 AM Apr 8th · waitng and waiting. this man has no answers and my file has been disappeared or cast aside for teh moment. running out of diapers.
9:17 AM Apr 8th · now sprialling into the world of the kafkaesque- no one has answers and I don’t know how to get them
9:18 AM Apr 8th · thinking of going on a hunger strike
9:32 AM Apr 8th · one officer just asked if I wanted a shelter set up – apparently its going to be a while
4:00 PM Apr 8th · i was placed in a detention room with 17 others for 3 hours then taken to a room and asked “if that’s what I wanted for the forseable future
4:04 PM Apr 8th · then they said “its very uncomfortable isn’t it? we do’nt mind keeping you there you know”
4:04 PM Apr 8th · I told everyone in the detention room I am the only one here because I cannot go home- you are all being deported home, I am denied home
4:11 PM Apr 8th · favorite line by egyptian mockiccer: “honestly, we did not get any sleep over your orrdeal, we feel for you, really we do”
4:13 PM Apr 8th · i was asked by men in holding cell what I did to be in there, I said “I was born Palestinian”
about 22 hours ago · getting ready for deportation trip back to US via London. should be interesting explaining this to US immigration. the saga continues.
about 22 hours ago · thank you everyone for your support- I thought I could get in, I exhausted all options. They said I needed security clearance (to go home)
follow @gazamom
read her blog “Raising yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother“
Tags: border, detainment, gaza, twitter
