(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Many believe it is madness to travel with a ship to Gaza with the danger of going to prison in Israel. The goal of this article is to convince you, dear reader, that it is of great value to all the civilians in Gaza that we try to reach the small strip, while reminding ordinary people that the colonization of the Palestinian people and the siege of Gaza must end. On the journey I have met the most incredible people. Many dedicate their lives to supporting marginalized groups across the globe. Some of these you should hear more about.
The Freedom Fleet is an international grassroots network, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (JRC), with the goal of helping to end the siege of Gaza. The JRC assumes that human rights should apply to everyone, regardless of race, gender, tribe, religion, orientation, nationality or language. Important key words are non-violence and solidarity with the Palestinian people. The support is for the civilian population, not for any political party or group.
The JRC became famous in Norway when the Turkish boat Mave Marmara in 2010 was brutally boarded in international waters by Israeli soldiers, and nine Turks were killed by a total of 30 shots that night.
The plan in 2015 was for three boats to go to Gaza in the Mediterranean under the auspices of FF3, although Israel has full control of land, air and sea both in and near Gaza. Three sailboats would lie behind and turn if (when) the boats were boarded. However, these plans had to be changed, and you'll soon find out why.
My journey to Gaza started in Sicily. When interviewed by left-wing journalists and activists in Messina on June 17, I spontaneously ended like this: “My heroes are Gaza civilians. They live in a hell, which in Israel is often called the hole of death. What would the workers' rights have been without the labor movement? What would women's rights have been without the women's movement? Now FF3 and Ship to Gaza must kick start a new, non-violent world movement that you can join: Avanti Popolo. ”(Avanti Popolo is the opening words in the most famous song of the Italian labor movement,“ Bandiera Rossa ”(Red flag), written by Carlo Tuzzi in 1908.)
We attended various press conferences, including in the town hall. There we welcomed representatives of the women's movement in Sicily and Spain. During the press conference, I was quickly included as a feminist from Norway. My job was to bring with me a greeting to the women of Gaza entitled "Siamo Tutti Palestines!" (v are all Palestinians). A key woman in this group is Ana Miranda Paz, who was a member of the European Parliament in the EU in the period 2012-2013. In 2018–2019, she will join a working group with other nationalist parties from the left. She will continue to be responsible for international politics and be spokeswoman for the Galician party Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG).
"Freedom Flotilla italia" (www.freedomflotilla.it) had many activities on the program in Messina, including a silent demonstration. The grassroots movement "From Bottum Up" was responsible for this arrangement, which took place without speaking and shouting, but sitting with posters and flags in the middle of the city. The evening ended with a press conference in a library and a lovely covered table, full of delicious Italian and Palestinian food. Some of us threw ourselves into the dance of sweeping Italian rhythms. Then it was good to take a few breaks in the clear evening air. 28 degrees on the sidewalk just outside was not to be despised.
The plan was that I was going to board the Swedish-Norwegian trawler Marianne from Messina, and be all the way to Gaza. The boat departed from Gothenburg on May 10, arriving at ten ports before arriving at Messina – scheduled to be the last port before Gaza. Marianne is a poor boat of 85 gross tonnes, she is 20 meters long and 5 meters wide, and the keel is only 5 meters deep. Where the fish was previously located, Swedish and Norwegian members of Ship to Gaza have built two cabins for accommodation. Marianne brought a solar panel to use at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza capital, because Israeli bombs have destroyed the electrical system on the small strip. The Swedish Association of Midwives had donated a machine to inhale medicines specifically for use in acute asthmatic seizures. The boat was also a gift to Gaza's fishermen, who are constantly being attacked by Israeli soldiers. Everyone on board the FFC3 had to sign a declaration to accept the coalition's "charter" on non-violence and mutual respect for all peoples and nations.
We worked together and trained on what to do if the IDF boarded the ship. For the first time, I enjoyed washing floors.
June 18rd kl. At 21.00 we left the port of Messina. We were then 14 on board, five women and nine men. Of these, five were, one doctor, two journalists from New Zealand, one parliamentarian, one author, and the rest were activists.
The most famous activist on board from Sicily was Dror Feiler, former paratrooper in the Israeli army, now a Swedish citizen and musician. He was born in Tel Aviv in 1951. Both parents were left-wing activists. His mother lives today, and always visits his son when he involuntarily sits in prison in Israel under the auspices of Ship to Gaza. Dror emigrated to Sweden in 1973, renouncing his Israeli citizenship. He has a long time as a Palestinian friend, and has been on many boat trips to Gaza. The activist has had and has played a central role on all the StG boats he has been on, partly because he knows Hebrew and knows the routines of the country's army. Before boarding from Palermo in Sicily, he played concerts in South Africa as a professional musician. There he was followed by a secret police, who even broke into his hotel room and the mess in his luggage. For Dror, it was the signal that "they" knew where he was at all times. The man can't be scared. When he checked the hotel's surveillance camera, 15 minutes from the same day had been erased – presumably when the burglary took place. His music can often be heard when Marianne adds to and from port. The musician also played on his clarinet both when the trawler added to the quay and left Messina.
Once on board, we got new passengers a small, round piece of plastic over their ear to protect us from sea sickness on the bad sea boat we were supposed to stay on until the IDF pirates were most likely to take over the trawler in international waters. There was little sleep the first night. The temperature in our cabin felt like the heat of a Norwegian sauna. The next night we therefore lay out on the lower deck. This night, too, there was no further sleep, due to strong winds. We all rushed either far to the right, then to the left, then often backwards or forwards. There was nothing to say about the mood. We laughed, roared and cracked more or less much of the night. Throughout the trip, not a single person complained about anything, no matter what happened. We worked together and trained on what to do if the IDF boarded the ship. For the first time, I enjoyed washing floors.
That joy ended when I had to leave in the middle of the Mediterranean. It didn't feel good to leave my friends on Marianne in the final, but the benefit was that I wouldn't be imprisoned in Israel. Instead of having three boats to Gaza, we lost two. One because it was unfortunately not completed, and another, "Juliano", because it was sabotaged by the quay in Corfu, most likely by people paid by Israel. Then three of us had to swap places with bigger "fisherman", such as Tunisia's president, Moncef Marzouki, a member of the Knesset, Bassel Ghattas and Ohad Hemo, a journalist in Channel 2. However, it took a full day and a bit of a night before they managed to deceive Greek port police, which we assumed were paid by Israel. We saw how the police stopped the zodiac with the important passengers on the morning of Friday 26 July. Only closer to one o'clock at night did they arrive with a small fishing boat. It transported us to the mainland. Because Greek port police tried to prevent new boats from going to Gaza, we did not get off the sailing boats that night. The goal was to turn around as the trawler was boarded so we could give the world community a quick message if the pirates stole the Swedish-Norwegian boat.
There was one even night and day on mainland Greek. We spent the night in a hotel. In the morning, I was interviewed by a journalist from Amnesty International while waiting for a message to leave. Almost all day we played cat and mouse with Greek port police. The plan was for me to board the "Juliano II". During the day, a car arrived and transported us to a secret place. Only the leader of the boat had contact with Greek people from FF3, who checked when we could get on board. After a good while there came a car that carried us on. We stopped and waited a while before being told that we had to hurry aboard before the police stopped us. I sat with the feeling that fortunate refugees could experience something similar before boarding the boat to take them to the Promised Land.
I was not long on "Juliano II" since I had to switch to "Vittoria", so there were always two women on a boat. My cohabitant for four days in the cramped cabin was Ann Wright, a well-known US peace activist. For 13 years she was in active military service in the country's army, and 16 years in the Army Reserve, eventually also as a colonel. She has also worked at US embassies in Sierre Leone, Mongolia, Uzbeistan and Nicaragua, among others. In 2003, she sent her resignation letter to Colin Powel just before the army entered Iraq. From then on she has been the most active in the war. Wright has been jailed several times for his involvement and has been an active Palestinian friend since 2007. The following year she joined the international JRC network.
On Sunday, July 28, we saw an Israeli military aircraft that checked where we and the other two sailboats were in relation to Marianne. Then we knew that the trawler would soon be boarded. It was the night after, the whole 86 nautical miles from Gaza. When we realized it, we turned and sailed without a motor to land. The wind finally brought us to Rhodes on July 31st. While we could spend the night in a hotel on the island, my friends at Marianne were in prison, constantly awakened and subjected to hopeless interrogations as terrorists. I end with repeating Dror's statement when he came out of prison: "We will be back."
Von der Lippe is a professor at Telemark University College.
gerd.vdLippe@hit.no.
