Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 00:11:57 -0800
From: "Jennifer Loewenstein"
Subject: delegation details
Hi everyone,
This is Jennifer. Thought I'd just say hello to you all as well. We're all doing well. East Jerusalem is beautiful and we're at a very nice hotel. We will leave for Gaza after doing a few errands here.
People are very mixed about our chances of getting in. We all know the IDF can be very arbitrary. We'll keep you up to date, however, and email as often as possible.
Being with Cisco and George is great. We seem to make a good team for all the details. There's so much to do and see. I've spoken to the City Manager in Rafah last night on the phone. They are looking forward to our arrival and the Mezan people are waiting for us -- very eager to see us. Let's hope all goes well.
Very Best & Warmest Wishes,
Jennifer Loewenstein
P.S. It was ironic: the three of us thought that I would be the one to have trouble getting in and so we made plans for George & Cisco to go ahead to Jerusalem without me if that happened. As it turned out, I got in very fast, almost no questions asked while George and Cisco were "grilled" by multiple interrogators. I ended up going ahead to the hotel in Jerusalem alone not knowing if I'd see the other two again. UGH. What an ordeal. [By the way both George and Cisco were terrific in front of the interrogators and never gave them any idea of our actual purpose.] All their belongings were gone through in detail. It was funny -- but only after the fact.
We all went through the old city last night. What a great (beautiful) welcome. Then we had good stiff drinks at the American Colony Hotel bar (down the road from us) before coming back to crash here. We were all pretty exhausted. Breakfast at the hotel this morning was delicious -- that plus the ambiance and the hospitality of everyone here made me realize how much I miss being in Palestine. We'll all fill you in on the details of our trip as the time goes by.
