From Istanbul, the Tunisian actor Mohamed Mradone of the participants in “Sumud flotilla”delivered a poignant testimony to this aborted humanitarian mission, intended to break the blockade of Gaza. The actor told the long hours of tension, the violence suffered and the immense disappointment of not having been able to reach the Palestinian coast.
“Forgive us because we could not arrive … It was a great disappointment when we learned that we would be intercepted,” said Mohamed Mourad in a statement from Istanbul.
According to him, the ship was targeted and continued for almost 12 hours In the open sea before being arranged by the Israeli occupation forces. The participants were then retained for almost 50 hoursunder conditions qualified as “hard, humiliating and marked by different forms of ill -treatment”.
“But all this,” he said, “is not worth the pain that our Palestinian brothers experience,” added the actor.
A momentum of international solidarity broken in the Mediterranean
The “Al-Soumoud flotilla”, made up of several boats left from Türkiye, was responsible for deliver humanitarian aid to Gazaalways under Israeli blockade for over 17 years. The convoy gathered activists, humanitarian workers and personalities from the Arab and European worlddecided to denounce the asphyxiation policy imposed on the Palestinian population.
But The Israeli army intervened in the open sea mediterraneancapturing more than 250 participants and transferring them to the port of Ashdod, where they were subject to interrogations Before being expelled. Among them were several Arab nationals, including Tunisians.
Context: a still lively memory
This is not the first time that a solidarity flotilla has been stopped by Israel. In 2010, the deadly assault against the ship Mavi Marmara had cost the life of nine Turkish activists and caused a wave of world indignation. Fifteen years later, the story seems to repeat itself, illustrating the determination of Israel to maintain the blockade And that of the defenders of the Palestinian cause to try to break it.
Despite the disappointment, Mohamed Mourad claims that experience has strengthened his conviction: “Our solidarity with Gaza does not stop there. As long as there are walls, blockade and injustices, there will be voices to denounce them. »»
