Hundreds of volunteers assembled at Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, on Sept. 10, preparing to set sail with the Sumud Flotilla. Sumud means ‘steadfast’ in Arabic. Boats had arrived from Spain on Sept. 7, with more vessels joining from Tunisia.
Crowd in port city of Syros, Greece, waving Palestinian flags to activists on two boats joining Sumud Flotilla.
According to organisers, the plan is for a first wave of vessels – the ones in the best condition – to set sail together to a point in the Mediterranean Sea, where they will rendezvous with other boats departing from ports in Italy and Greece.
Meanwhile, several vessels are still expected to arrive in Tunisia from the first leg of the flotilla, which departed from Barcelona last week. Once repaired and stocked, these ships will form a second wave, departing after the first, meeting up with the rest of the flotilla, and setting course towards the Palestinian shores of the Gaza Strip. (Al Jazeera, Sept. 10)
Volunteers’ solidarity with Palestine
With more people volunteering than there are spaces available, there are still people wanting to join the flotilla who are waiting to be assigned a boat. The volunteers’ ages range between 24 and 73. They represent around 14 nationalities.
They include celebrities like Susan Sarandon, Liam Cunningham and Greta Thunberg, Palestinian exiles like Jaldia Abubakra, displaced from Gaza and orphaned at 9, active in the Palestinian movement (Publica, Sept. 14), and Omar, a 73-year-old Palestinian whose family was displaced during the Nakba (Al Jazeera, Sept. 7). They volunteered, knowing that the Israelis have labelled them as ‘terrorists’ and threatened them and their families with reprisals.
Jaldia said calmly, “The objective we are going for is much greater than whatever may happen to us.” She called the flotilla “an act of practical solidarity with Palestine.” (Publica, Sept. 14)
The volunteers also include a group of journalists from different countries, who are chronicling what transpires. They are well aware of Israel’s history of murdering journalists, but they persevere. As to the drone attacks that have already been made against the Sumud Flotilla on at least two of the over 44 boats.
Tadhg Hickey, an Irish comedian, writer and filmmaker who has been on board the Alma, told Al Jazeera that the attacks were “mere distractions.”
Hickey said, “As a team, we remain relaxed and focused on putting our comprehensive training into action, and first and foremost our primary goal of breaking the immoral, illegal siege of Gaza.”
The flotilla’s steering committee has insisted that the vessels will continue on their way to Gaza despite attacks by Israeli drones on two ships docked in Tunisian waters. Saif Abukeshek, a steering committee member said: “Israel continues to breach international law and terrorize us. We will sail to break the blockade on Gaza no matter what they do.” (Al Jazeera, Sept. 11).
So the flotilla remains “Sumud.”