Obama is scheduled to meet with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and to make a speech in Cairo on Thursday.

AMJAD SHAWA
Shawa, the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization Network coordinator for Gaza, said today: “Gaza is still under siege — there’s been no real movement from the U.S. to pressure Israel to allow the people in Gaza to reconstruct after the bombing campaign of a few months ago. It’s virtually impossible to get goods in or out.”
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ANN WRIGHT, PAM RASMUSSEN
Jean Stevens
Wright and Rasmussen are part of “a 66-person delegation, including Americans from 18 states” now in Gaza.

Col. Wright is co-leader of the delegation. She is a retired U.S. Army colonel and a former U.S. diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. Wright said today: “If President Obama can, at the last minute, add a visit to Saudi Arabia to have a private dinner with the King, then he certainly can go to Gaza.”

Rasmussen, who is with the women’s peace group CodePink, is a coordinator of the delegation. She is sending out messages on Twitter while in Gaza.

The delegation states: “The group of peace activists, bringing toys and building playgrounds for the traumatized children of Gaza, has launched an international petition calling on Obama to visit Gaza and see the destruction for himself. They will return to Cairo on June 4 in time to deliver to the U.S. Embassy the petition asking Obama to visit the war-torn region and to push Israel and Egypt to open the borders.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167