The Madeleine ship: A message of solidarity with Gaza and resolve to break the blockade

Tomorrow, Sunday, June 1st,  a small ship from the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition will set sail from the port of Catania in Sicily (Italy). The coalition named the ship “Madeleine” in honour of Palestinian fisherwoman Madeleine Kullab, the youngest professional fisherwoman in the world and the only one in Palestine. 

The ship also carries a number of international activists and a cargo of symbolic humanitarian aid intended to be delivered to Gaza. Most importantly, it carries a message of solidarity with Gaza, a message of defiance and determination to continue popular efforts to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, and an affirmation of the Palestinians’ fundamental right to communicate with the world by sea and their right to establish a humanitarian corridor to bring in aid and relief supplies during the war of extermination waged by the Israeli occupation state against Gaza.

The departure of this ship comes less than a month after an Israeli drone attacked the “Dameer” ship in international waters off the coast of Malta, which was en route to Gaza.

Our message as an international committee to break the siege on Gaza; as a founding member of the Freedom Flotilla International Coalition; and as international solidarity movements is first and foremost to our people in Gaza. It means that we, as international activists, as Palestinians abroad, and within solidarity action groups, affirm that feelings of inadequacy, abandonment, and helplessness weigh heavily on us and could kill us. However, we are working hard and trying, within our capabilities and in every possible way, along with solidarity activists from among friends of Palestine, defenders of Gaza, and those who reject the crimes of the occupation. 

READ: Trump strikes upbeat tone on Gaza ceasefire, Iran nuclear deal

We raise our voices loudly that we are with you and that we are striving to impose an influential popular stance that rejects the war and demands the opening of the crossings and the entry of relief aid and essentials to the people of Gaza. This is the least we can do toward those who sacrifice themselves and everything they own for freedom and dignity, for the homeland, and for the holy sites. 

The second message is to emphasise that the targeting of ships attempting to break the siege and Israeli piracy in international waters will not deter us from continuing our efforts to break the siege and to exert pressure for the opening of the crossings and the entry of aid and essentials. 

We are undertaking this risky effort, knowing the extent of the crimes committed by the apartheid and settler colonial state, Israel. However, these crimes will not prevent us from fulfilling our humanitarian duty. We say to the occupying state that these crimes will not bring peace and stability to the Israeli people in the region. There can be no peace without ending the occupation and restoring the land and rights to the indigenous people.

Our small ship, the “Madeleine”, will set sail, carrying a limited number of international activists who refuse to remain silent and submit; who refuse to accept the continued crimes of the occupation; and who refuse to accept the positions of their countries, which have remained inactive and have not taken tangible measures to stop the war. 

Indeed, many of these countries are accomplices in this crime through their silence and by providing the occupation with all forms of military, political and intelligence support.

READ: Israel attacks Freedom Flotilla ship attempting to break Gaza siege

Our ship, the “Madeleine,” carries a message of love, peace, and support for our people in Gaza, along with activists, and a message of protest against all countries of the world that remain silent about the continued blockade and the prevention of food and basic necessities for more than two million Palestinians in Gaza.

It sends a special message to neighbouring countries that are only separated from Gaza and Palestine by the decisions of their rulers, their positions of abandonment, and their fear for their thrones from an erratic US president, Trump, and his agent in the Middle East, Netanyahu.

This ship, the “Madeleine,” and other ships breaking the blockade, also say to Arab and Muslim rulers: Shame! This silence and abandonment of their families and neighbours is unbecoming of the innate loyalty of Arabs and Muslims. What will history record about your positions at this most critical stage in the history of the Palestinian cause and the entire region?

However, the rulers’ abandonment of Gaza does not absolve peoples of their humanitarian responsibility and their duty to act, each according to their circumstances and ability. No human being with dignity and humane feelings can stand idly by and watch what is happening to our people in Gaza, let alone if he were an Arab and Muslim, and Gaza, the land of pride and sacrifice, was only a stone’s throw away from him.

This maritime movement is paralleled by a popular land movement attempting to reach the Rafah crossing, break the land blockade, and bring in aid that has been accumulating in Arish and Rafah for months. This movement is represented by three major international events. The first is the Global March for Gaza, which calls on activists worldwide to travel to Cairo, from where they will organise themselves to move toward Gaza. They hope that the Egyptian authorities will facilitate their movement, or at least refrain from placing obstacles and barriers in their path, citing security pretexts that are convincing to no one. The second of these land movements is the Arab Steadfastness Convoy, which will travel from Tunisia to Libya, then to Cairo and Rafah, arriving in Gaza. Like its predecessors, we will receive support from the International Committee and the International Coalition to Break the Siege on Gaza. The third movement is the diplomatic and human rights convoy launched by Palestinian human rights organisations, coordinated with numerous countries, and supported by hundreds of solidarity and human rights organisations worldwide. This effort aims to pressure for the opening of the crossings, especially the Egyptian Rafah crossing, which has been closed most days since the beginning of the war in October 2023. The closure has been tightened further over the past three months. This contradicts international laws, morality, values ​​and the principles of Arab brotherhood. It is a betrayal of the rights of neighbours; especially during a time of the insane war that spares no effort and uses starvation as a deadly weapon to achieve Netanyahu and Trump’s plans to empty Gaza of its people or kill them. Worse still, their ultimate aim is to impose absolute hegemony of the occupying state over the entire region and crown Netanyahu as the sole leader of the Middle East.

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