{"id":3556,"date":"2016-09-23T14:48:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T12:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wbg.freedomflotilla.org\/?p=3556"},"modified":"2016-09-27T11:24:47","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T09:24:47","slug":"seven-days-on-the-womens-flotilla-to-gaza-by-yudit-ilany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wbg.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/news\/seven-days-on-the-womens-flotilla-to-gaza-by-yudit-ilany","title":{"rendered":"Yudit Ilany: Seven days on the Women\u2019s Flotilla to Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven days on the Women\u2019s flotilla to Gaza<\/h1>\n
\n

Join reporter Yudit Ilany as she\u00a0spends a week with the Women\u2019s Flotilla to Gaza, while it makes port calls in southern Europe, and ultimately attempts to break Israel\u2019s blockade on Gaza.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For eight years now, international activists have attempted to symbolically break Israel\u2019s decade-long blockade on the Gaza Strip. In 2008, the Israeli Navy let two sets of boats through. Two years later, Israeli commandos killed 10 activists on the \u2018Mavi Marmara.\u2019<\/p>\n

Every year since, activists have attempted new flotillas, all of which have been stopped by Israel. This year, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is sending a \u2018Women\u2019s Boat to Gaza,\u2019 a flotilla of two boats named Amal-Hope<\/em> and Zaytouna-Oliva<\/em>. Israel Social TV reporter Yudit Ilany is sailing on the Zaytouna-Oliva<\/em>. This is her travelogue from the first week.<\/p>\n

We have abridged Yudit\u2019s diary here. The full multimedia ‘Travelogue’ is available on\u00a0Social TV\u2019s Facebook page<\/span><\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Day 1\u00a0\u2014Barcelona<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\"The<\/a>

The Amal-Hope, moored in Barcelona. (Yudit Ilany)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s hot and humid. The sun is scorching but it\u2019s easy to forget, as Barcelona is amazing. Not because it is a gorgeous city (well, that too) but first and foremost because of the city\u2019s inspiring group of activists. People who give you hope not only with their words, but with their actions and dedication. And their friendliness.<\/p>\n

The festival surrounding the launching of the flotilla, with its artists, musicians and performers, is a happy noisy mix of art, ideology and knowing how to live. The public is a fantastic mixture of locals of all kinds and creeds as well as random tourists, many of them visiting the city during the Eid al-Adha holiday.<\/p>\n

And then there are the others, living in Barcelona after having travelled a less easy route: Muhammad, a young refugee born in Yarmoukh Camp in Syria, whose grandparents were born in Yaffa and lived in the Manshiye neighborhood, and his girlfriend from Aleppo, whose roots go back to Nazareth. Or Dr. Muhammad, a medical specialist working at a local hospital whose parents also came from Manshiye (Yaffa).<\/p>\n

There is a fairly substantial Palestinian community in Barcelona that extends its hands to the refugees, in cooperation with many other groups of activists; One group specializes in finding good squats for refugees. They know where to look, how to go about it and are successful at what they are doing. Problem solved. They volunteer. The festival has been organized by volunteers, with incredible care, dedication and professionalism.<\/p>\n

I live in Yaffa and love my city. You can take me out of Yaffa for a while, but you cannot take Yaffa out of me. Talking to Syrian refugees who have never visited, but love the city in a way I perhaps never can, makes me incredibly sad, then angry. They tell me about Manshiye where their grandparents lived and played on streets which no longer exist. The smell of orange blossoms replaced by the stench of diesel operated buses.<\/p>\n

There is so much injustice.<\/p>\n

The sailboat Amal-Hope<\/em> arrived in Barcelona yesterday. Today the small boat on which my friends and I will be travelling, the Zaytouna-Oliva<\/em>, will arrive. Olives are down to earth and deeply rooted.<\/p>\n

Day 2 \u2014 Nonviolence and Catalonian Politics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Israeli press reported yesterday that the Israeli government has asked the Spanish government to stop us from leaving the Barcelona harbor today. Catalonian politicians see things differently.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, a delegation of the Women\u2019s Flotilla to Gaza took part in a committee meeting in the Catalonian parliament. In my address to the committee, I described the dire situation in Gaza \u2014 a long list of dry facts, that cannot come close to describing the catastrophe of 1.8 million people living in an impossible situation.<\/p>\n