In Messina, Sicily, Renato Accorinti, the Mayor of Messina hosted various events in the City Hall, including an international press conference for the departure of the Women's Boat to Gaza on its final, long, 1000 mile leg of the journey to Gaza.
The local Palestinian support group in Messina arranged a concert at the city hall with Palestinian, international and local artists. And the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy Doctor Mai Alkaila traveled to Messina to visit the boats and offer her support.
The long voyage of the Women's Boat to Gaza was to bring hope to the people of Gaza that they are not forgotten by the international community. The women and men supporting the Women's Boat to Gaza are committed to continuing their efforts by sending international delegations by boat to Gaza to put international pressure on the Israeli government to change its policies toward Gaza and to lift the inhumane and brutal naval and land blockade of Gaza.
As can be imagined, attempting to sail two boats in twenty days from Barcelona to Gaza with stops at two ports was fraught with challenges including replacing one boat, Amal or Hope, whose engine failed upon departing Barcelona, readjusting from one boat to another passengers who had flown into the ports from all over the world, replacing things that broke during the voyage including a metal rod shroud by a professional Greek rigger brought to the Zaytouna-Oliva off Crete for an at sea repair of the shroud. The boat in this video is filled with Greek activists who brought the rigger to our boat and helped replenish our fuel supply.
During the days on the Zaytouna-Oliva and especially on the last three days, our satellite phones rang virtually continuously with interviews with media from all over the world. Our participants beautifully described why each felt it was important to be on the voyage. The exception to media coverage of the Women's Boat to Gaza was the US media that did not call for interviews and gave very little information to the citizens of the country that most supports Israel and its policies that oppress and imprison Palestinians. Links to media coverage of the Women's Boat to Gaza are here.
Screen capture from Google maps showing the position of the Zaytouna-Oliva as it sails toward the Gaza Strip, October 5, 2016.
(Image by Freedom Flotilla) Details DMCA
Our Captain Madeline Habib, an extraordinarily experienced captain licensed to command all ships of any size responded, "Israeli Navy, this is the Zaytouna, the Women's Boat to Gaza. We are in international waters heading for Gaza on a mission of bringing hope to the people of Gaza that we they are not forgotten. We demand that the government of Israel end its naval blockade of Gaza and let the people of Palestine live in dignity with the right to travel freely and the right to control their destiny. We are continuing to sail to Gaza where the people of Gaza are awaiting our arrival."
Around 4pm we saw three vessels coming at high speed toward the Zaytouna. As planned during our frequent non-violence training discussions, we gathered all 13 women in the cockpit of the Zaytouna. Two journalists of Al Jazeera, who had been reporting daily on the progress of the Zaytouna during the final nine day voyage, continued their filming, while our Captain and two crew members sailed the boat toward Gaza.
As the IOF fast boats approached our participants held hands and had a minute of silence and reflection for the women and children of Gaza and our voyage to bring international attention to their plight.
By 4:10pm, the IOF boat had come alongside of the Zaytouna and ordered us to slow to 4 knots. The IOF zodiac vessel had approximately 25 on board including 10 women sailors. Fifteen young IOF sailors quickly boarded the Zaytouna and a woman sailor took command of the Zaytouna from our Captain and altered our course from Gaza to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
The sailors did not carry visible weapons, although one suspicioned that there were weapons and handcuffs in the backpacks that several brought aboard. They were not dressed in combat gear, but rather in white long sleeved polo shirts with blue military vests on top and Go-Pro cameras attached to the vests.
They immediately took our individual document belts that contained our passports and stored them below as they searched the boat. Later, a second team searched the boat more thoroughly apparently looking for cameras, computers, mobile phones and any electronic devices.
A young woman IOF medic asked if anyone had medical problems. We replied that we had our own medical doctor on board -- and the medic said, "Yes, we know, Dr. Fauziah Hasan from Malaysia."
The boarding group brought aboard water and offered us food. We replied that we had plenty of water and food, including 60 hard boiled eggs that we had prepared for what we knew would be a lengthy journey to an Israeli port after the boarding.
For the next eight hours until after midnight, we sailed and motored with 15 more people on board, a total of about 28 people on the Zaytouna-Oliva. As was typical at virtually every sunset on our nine-day journey from Messina, our crew sang to remind us of the women of Palestine. Crewmember Emma Ringquist had composed a powerful song entitled "For the Women of Gaza." Emma, Synne Sofia and Marmara Davidson sang the lyrics as we sailed with the sun setting for the final evening on the Zaytouna Oliva, the Women's Boat to Gaza, with everyone singing the chorus that so aptly described our mission: "We will sail for your freedom our sisters in Palestine. We will never be silent until you are free."
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