Photo credit: Global News
Canadians are planning to visit Gaza again as part of a flotilla that aims to deliver aid and break a nearly 20-year naval blockade, months after six Canadians were detained by Israel for attempting a similar mission.
Toronto Today reports that Safa Chebbi, spokesperson for the Canadian arm of the Global Su mud Flotilla, said more than 100 boats and 3,000 participants from around the globe are set to depart from Spanish and Italian ports on April 12, bound for Gaza.
Chebbi said health-care workers, journalists and builders hoping to provide aid and help in Gazan reconstruction efforts will sail on the fleet of ships, along with medicine and other life-saving supplies.
Hanging over the planned sailing is the possibility that the boats will be intercepted by Israeli forces and passengers detained, as has been the case for dozens of ships in the past two decades, with none reaching Gaza since 2008.
Last fall, Israel took more than 400 activists, including Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, into custody during the first sailing of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Shortly after, six Canadians sailing in the Freedom Flotilla, which has been attempting to land ships in Gaza since 2010, were also detained before being deported back to Canada.
This year, the Freedom Flotilla has joined with the Global Sumud Flotilla for a joint sailing, says Ehad Lotayef, one of the founders of the Freedom Flotilla’s Canadian branch.
Lotayef spoke of detention as a foregone conclusion for the spring sailing. The Montreal poet said he experienced it himself in 2011, when he and other activists were held in Israel for a week after attempting to sail to Gaza.
He said, “We are not trying to be martyrs, but we are also not ignorant to the realities.” He noted that participants receive training to prepare them for possible violence if they are taken into custody.
Dr Suzanne Shoush, a Black and Indigenous family physician in Toronto who is hoping to sail with the flotilla again after participating last year, said she and many others are ready to put their own safety on the line for the chance to deliver aid.
Fida Alburini, a Palestinian-Canadian organizer, also hopes to sail to Gaza despite the safety concerns.
There’s debate over the legality of Israel enforcing its naval blockade in international waters, but experts say international law protects the delivery of aid, regardless.
Israel says its naval blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics consider it collective punishment.
