Three dozen Palestinian-Americans crossed the border from the West Bank into Jordan this afternoon aboard a bus chartered by the US Government. This morning they were in Gaza. For the last week, many of them have not slept at all, because of the spike in Fatah-Hamas violence. Many fear an Israeli crackdown is just around the corner. Foreign governments are taking this opportunity to get their citizens out of Gaza. Without foreign intervention, these people would be unable to flee Gaza. They are otherwise penned in by Israeli emergency measures, with only one exit, the
Erez Crossing.
The US evacuates its citizens out of harm's way whenever possible. What is remarkable about today's evacuation is that
I was the officer responsible for shepherding the evacuees from the Israeli border to the safe haven of Amman. I stayed on the Jordanian border the entire time and was never in harm's way. In fact, we passed some time browsing the Duty Free. Some Swedish-Palestinians asked me if I was
their consular representative, but I did not take offense to this racial profiling.
Three dozen Palestinian-Americans crossed the border from the West Bank into Jordan this afternoon aboard a bus chartered by the US Government. This morning they were in Gaza. For the last week, many of them have not slept at all, because of the spike in Fatah-Hamas violence. Many fear an Israeli crackdown is just around the corner. Foreign governments are taking this opportunity to get their citizens out of Gaza. Without foreign intervention, these people would be unable to flee Gaza. They are otherwise penned in by Israeli emergency measures, with only one exit, the Erez Crossing.
The US evacuates its citizens out of harm's way whenever possible. What is remarkable about today's evacuation is that I was the officer responsible for shepherding the evacuees from the Israeli border to the safe haven of Amman. I stayed on the Jordanian border the entire time and was never in harm's way. In fact, we passed some time browsing the Duty Free. Some Swedish-Palestinians asked me if I was their consular representative, but I did not take offense to this racial profiling.
4 comments:
Wow, what an interesting endeavor your job is! Sounds like a new adventure every day! Have a great day!
Julie
Wow, you're job is exciting! I had to read your post a second time to get that YOU were the officer. I can only imagine what you'll be doing after you've been there a year. Keep up the good work!
wow. Such excitement after just a few weeks. What does one buy in the duty-free shop at the Gaza checkpoint?
FYI -- we took Duff to the airport last night, so she should be getting there any time now!
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