After she got rid of her scabies, International Solidarity Movement member Alice Coy headed to “Palestine” to protect the psychotic murderers she finds so very romantic.

Been in Gaza since Sat 8th, but arrived in Rafah the following day as that day we were forbidden at gunpoint to cross the checkpoint that divides the gaza strip in half (ostensibly to protect a settler road that also bisects the strip, the settlement having chosen to locate itself by the beach).

I think here is somewhere I want to stay for a while, despite the very conservative culture here meaning that uniquely in Palestine even the international women feel they must cover their hair. Admittedly I do this only with a hood, and more and more often I leave it down, but the boys who run riot through the city consider it their duty to hassle all women who do not subscribe to their female ideal.

For me it is also a relief to be away from having to negotiate with the Israeli soldiers, as here, thanks to the armed resistance, the soldiers are normally afraid to get out of their heavily armoured vehicles to subdue the daily life, instead there is possibly the highest mortality rate here, with almost daily shaheeds - those killed during the intifada.