Protesting at Rafah
‘A dark page
in history’
Door Lotte Kruijer
By Lotte Kruijer
Lotte Kruijer
Ibrahim A’mema (25) is very busy. Today, Tuesday 10 June, he’s already given four interviews, and he still needs to buy anti-diarrhoea medication and sunscreen, as well as find a proper travel bag. While those might sound like the activities of a student getting ready for the summer, they’re anything but. Tomorrow, Ibrahim is getting on a flight to Egypt to participate in a solidarity march to the border near Rafah.
At least, that’s the plan.
His sister first alerted him to the existence of the march by sending him an Instagram post. Ibrahim, a business administration student, didn’t hesitate for a single second: he was going. He feels very strongly about the war in Gaza, calling it hell on earth. He had been looking for a while for a way to do something, to really make a difference. It was on his mind all the time. ‘Marching to the border with a big group of people feels like a very strong protest to me; it shows how we see the situation’, he says.
Inhuman suffering
Approximately two thousand people from thirty-five different countries are participating in the march. They’ll first fly to Cairo and then to a village in the Sinai desert. From there, they’ll walk through the desert for three days and set up camp at the border crossing near Rafah to show their solidarity with the people of Gaza.
I want to be able to say that I did my best
Something has to be done right now, Ibrahim emphasises. ‘And if the government won’t do it, we’ll do it ourselves. According to him, it’s no longer a war; it’s inhuman suffering. ‘I think we’ll be looking back on this as a dark page in history, wondering why we didn’t do something for these people sooner. I want to be able to say that I did my best.’
The group wants to stay near the border for five days after their three-day journey through the desert, but Ibrahim will be leaving a day early. ‘I still have an exam to take. But I’ll be there for everything else.’
His friends and family are worried, though. He understands why, but it hasn’t changed his mind. ‘I’m sure it will be fine. We’re not doing anything crazy. It’s just a march, it’s not like I’ll be storming the border.’
He feels a little tense, but not in a bad way. ‘I’ve often thought about what it would look like over there and even dreamed about the situation, because it occupies my mind so much. We’ll see what happens.’
Deported
Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned. On Wednesday, Ibrahim and the one hundred other Dutch citizens travelling to join the march are stopped at the airport in Cairo. At the request of Israel, he thinks. Their passports are confiscated, Ibrahim reports as he’s waiting to be deported. The next day, he’s back home again; his passport was returned to him on the plane.
He says the mood at the Cairo airport was grim and chaotic. ‘Everything felt incredibly uncertain. People were violent, too, but only to those who weren’t cooperating. I thought if I didn’t misbehave nothing would happen to me. They did grab me, but as soon as I showed that I was cooperating, everything was fine.’
Even though he never made it out of the airport, Ibrahim still thinks the trip was a success. The most important part is that they showed they were willing to fly across the world to make a difference. ‘It definitely wasn’t in vain.’
Love
Ibrahim and the other activists did get a warm welcome at Schiphol airport. A large group of people was waiting for them with flowers and food. ‘That was something else. I didn’t even know these people, and they were still there for me.’
I got a message from a Jewish woman telling me she supported me
He feels surrounded by love. While his friends and family were concerned, they were also proud and he received many messages wishing him luck. Complete strangers even contacted him to pay their respects. ‘I got a message from a Jewish woman from Groningen telling me she supported me, which I really loved.’
After talking to the media at the airport in the Netherlands, Ibrahim quickly travelled back to Groningen. He’d hardly eaten or drank anything in twenty-four hours. He hasn’t slept and was exhausted.
Proud
Now that he’s been back for a few days, he’s had time to process everything and recover. Ibrahim is proud of what the group accomplished. He has absolutely no regrets about the trip. ‘It still contributed to people’s awareness of the situation, just like the protest, the music, the poems that have been written, and the discussions being held.’ He hopes it will lead to change.
Sure, he’s a little upset that he didn’t get past the airport. ‘Perhaps it was a little idealistic of me to want to join the march. But I’ve been worried about Gaza from the start of the war.’ Ibrahim says the situation has really changed how he sees the world. ‘I used to think the world was generally a fair place and that things were cool. This was such a reality check; everything is much more broken and unjust than I’d thought.’
However: ‘At least I tried. All in all, I’m satisfied.’