Plea for Obama to support NGO in Gaza

How well was the 2008 Israeli invasion of Gaza covered by the American media?   Based on conversations I have had with Middle East residents, Muslims, and American journalists on the subject, there is widespread agreement that US news coverage failed to convey the terrible impact of the invasion on the residents of Gaza.  (During the invasion, blogs were the best way grasp what was happening on the ground.   In December and January of 2008, ThereLive.com compiled  the definitive list of live-bloggers of the Israeli strike on Gaza).

A few months later a new president gave an inspiring speech at Cairo University on peace in the Middle East.   However, since then, the US Administration has actively deterred American citizens from turning Obama's hopeful words into good works.  The US and other Western countries have been preventing their own citizens from entering Gaza to engage in NGO work.  I find it hard to fathom what good is supposed to come from such a policy.  

Pam Rasmussen, an activist, has written an open letter to President Obama on the matter:

... perhaps what I have found most upsetting is the complete lack of US willingness to foster the people-to-people exchange we say will help bridge the West/East divide. Some of us in the Freedom March want to live and work in Gaza with nongovernmental organizations dedicated to emergency relief, human rights monitoring and mental health treatment. However, the only way Egypt will allow me into Gaza right now is if I present a letter from my embassy asking that my entry be permitted. Is that too much to ask? It isn’t for individuals with Indian citizenship; the only person who has been granted entry into Gaza since Egypt clamped down in the wake of the Viva Palestina “uprising” (other than a 50-person MP delegation from Europe) has an Indian as well as American passport. He bypassed the US and wisely sought the assistance of India. He got in, and is still there, working on an MIT research project. Ireland has signaled a willingness to help its residents as well. But for those of us who live in the US, Canada, UK, Germany and Portugal? We’ve been flatly turned down. Why? “It’s dangerous,” we’re told.

Afghanistan and Iraq are also dangerous, Rasmussen notes.  She certainly has a point.   Surely Westerners who want to volunteer to help rebuild Gaza ought to be encouraged to do so.