Activists Around the World Demand: An Israeli Cease Fire NOW! U.S. Hands-Off Gaza! Egypt Open the Rafah Crossing NOW!

Palestinian-American, Chinese-American and Egyptian activists are together in Cairo for an international humanitarian mission and to fight against the Zionist war machine paid for by the U$A

Report from Gaza-Part One

Lee Siu Hin
National Coordinator
China-US Solidarity Network
National Immigrant Solidarity Network

March 26, 2024

English
https://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Gaza/GazaReport/PartOne.html

中文Chinese
https://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Gaza/GazaReport/PartOne-CHN.html

(...From Part One)

Interview with Susan Abulhawa in Cairo, Egypt
Susan Abulhawa is a U.S.-based Palestinian novelist, poet and activist, the executive director of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival and the founder and co-director of Playgrounds for Palestine, an organization to support children. She’s been entering Gaza from Cairo, Egypt, with her Egyptian activist friends who have formed a committee to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza since early this year.

We represent China and Chinese-Americans who want to join their humanitarian efforts so we made a special trip to Cairo in mid-March to meet with her.

She explained that what she saw in Gaza was much worse than what we have seen on the U.S. news: “Israel is not just targeting humanitarian organizations and activists. They are targeting all the infrastructure of life. They are making sure that not only are they destroying everything but they are destroying the possibility of rebuilding.”

What does she mean by “the centers of life? It is the schools, the hospitals, the community centers. These are generally in every society. All of that stuff has been targeted. All of our cultural centers, the museums and the libraries, the people they have targeted have been the scientists, the doctors, the writers.”

“When you commit a holocaust, when you want to destroy a people, you destroy the brightest among them, you destroy the people who can rebuild the society and who can create a society anew. And those are the people they have targeted.”

We ask her what the grassroots organizations in Egypt locally and internationally have been doing for Gaza. “There're a lot of organizations who want to go into Gaza to help. Unfortunately, Israel has blocked really everyone. There are no [international] journalists in Gaza because Israel is blocking every international media outlet from actually going in and reporting the truth. There are aid organizations who want to go in who cannot. Some medical aid has been going in via delegations of doctors. They go in for a week or two weeks and then they leave.”

Everything is difficult. “They come in with their expertise but they don't have the right equipment to work with … when 30 out of 36 hospitals are destroyed, and the operating rooms are down to the bare minimum, most what's left don't have reliable electricity.” They don't have enough medication. “They don't have anesthesia … Israel is banning scissors, so you cannot have medical scissors go into Gaza. So, a lot of things are banned. And even though some medical experts are going in … what they can do is limited, and also it depends on what part of Gaza. So, in the north of Gaza, nothing really is getting in.”

At the end of the interview, she had a special message to China, and how China can support Palestine. “China is a really important geopolitical player in the world. And so far, it has been mostly quiet. They vote the right way at the U.N., and some of the statements they make are great but we need China not just to be working towards becoming an economic powerhouse, but China has a chance to become, not just an economic and political force, but a moral force. And this, this is the time to do that, for China to become these things.”

https://youtu.be/5Wdr6vPnyow
(Photo/Video: March 14 24--Cairo, Egypt Palestinian-American activist Susan Abulhawa purchasing items for her humanitarian mission to Gaza)

After the interview, we went to the wholesale district at Cairo’s city center to purchase the lists of humanitarian items to take into Gaza for their upcoming trip. Mostly basic, everyday items, such as: running shoes, shibshib (sandals), batteries, books, notepads, over-the-counter medicines, coffee. The most expensive item is a video projector with a portable solar power generator so they can show videos to the kids.

What Are We Going to Do Next?
The U.S. imperialist policy in the Middle East will not change. It will continue to back the Zionist state, continue to destroy Palestine and continue to destabilize the region. Regardless who wins the U.S. election in November, Biden or Trump, the IOF invasion and occupation of Gaza and other Palestinian lands won’t end -- the injustice has already continued for the past 70 years.

We’re actively working with international and local organizations, repressing peace loving Chinese people and Chinese-Americans, collecting medical donations to enter Gaza for our humanitarian mission soon. We want to see an end to the suffering of the people in Gaza and to bring much needed food and medical assistance. We’re going to continue to fight for peace and justice; we are going to continue to fight for our better future. We’re calling for a Free Palestine!

**About Lee Siu Hin 李小轩
Lee Siu Hin, a Chinese-American immigrant activist from Los Angeles, CA, is the founder and national coordinator of the China-U.S. Solidarity Network (CUSN) and the National Immigrant Solidarity Network (NISN). He is a long-time community, labor, antiwar and immigrant rights activist for grassroots struggle. He's also a long-time Pacifica Radio KPFK Los Angeles unpaid reporter and producer and war correspondent who has worked in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.

NISN is a grassroots-based national immigrant activist network, and CUSN is a network of academic and community activists in both countries committed to building a China-U.S. grassroots activist dialogue.

Lee holds a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) and a Masters of Engineering (Aerospace) from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, located in Pomona, CA.

He is currently working on medical IT technology for the inner-city community, and for the global south. He travels frequently between China and U.S. for the activism work.

His latest book “Capitalism on a Ventilator” was co-published with Sara Flounders in September 2020; the Chinese edition was released in January 2022. He contributed to “Sanctions: a wrecking ball in a global economy” published in December 2022 and produced the documentary “Vaccine and Sanctions” released on February, 2023.

His second documentary “Voice of Xinjiang” still under production, a short version was released on December, 2023.