Wafaa remembers every detail of the invasion she almost didn’t survive.
I, too, remember exactly where I was when Israel launched its attack on Gaza three years ago. I was just outside of the lobby on the main floor of the Hyatt in Rosemont, Illinois. Flat-screen televisions — at least a half dozen of them — were all tuned to CNN’s live coverage of the invasion. I was attending the annual MAS-ICNA Convention but the program was seemingly put on hold as throngs of people crowded in front of the television screens. Initially, we thought it was just another air strike but the shells kept falling. By this time, hours had already passed since the onset of the invasion and relatives in Gaza City later told me that land was submerged in thick gray plumes of smoke.
This was the first of twenty-two days. These were the first of 1,400 dead. Where were you? Share your story in the comment section below.
I was in Iran.
Some staged mini-protest and the usual “Death to America! Death to Israel!” posters, but nobody I spoke to really cared about Israel or Palestine.
I was @ the MAS ICNA convention as well. It was very moving how that night turned into emergency fundraising for Gaza!
Oh you were in Iran? What were you doing there? I thought Iran was an evil empire and that if they catch any non-Muslim, especially Zionist, people in their they automatically arrest and torture them. Glad to see you made it back safe!
I WAS arrested: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/reports-about-my-trip-to-iran-in-junejuly-2009/
I was in San Francisco with family with the shelling started, and I didn’t have much time with news/tv to hear about it other than from our SJP list-serv, where people were freaking out because no one knew how large it would get or how long it would go on for. When I returned to NJ, I was at the massive, 10-block long rally on the 30th against the bombing when they were starting to invade on the ground. Devastating…