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New Gaza aid flotilla, joined by Greta Thunberg, set to depart Spain
A new activist-led aid flotilla plans to set sail from Barcelona towards Gaza today “to break the illegal siege”, according to its organisers.
The Global Sumud Flotilla will be the “biggest attempt ever to break the illegal Israeli siege over Gaza”, said Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who is part of the flotilla’s steering committee and will be on board.
In addition to the ships leaving Spain today, dozens of other vessels are expected to leave Tunisian and other Mediterranean ports on September 4, said Thunberg, who was previously arrested and deported from Israel after taking part in a Gaza aid flotilla mission.
As well as Thunberg, the flotilla will include activists from several countries, European lawmakers, and public figures such as former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau.
“We understand that this is a legal mission under international law,” said left-wing Portuguese lawmaker Mariana Mortagua, who will join the mission.
News conference under way for Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla
Organisers of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla are holding a news conference in Barcelona before their departure.
“This is a non-violent mission that is aiming to open a corridor of humanitarian aid,” said Saif Abukeshek, a Spanish-Palestinian activist who is a member of the flotilla’s steering committee.
“We cannot ignore the fact that Palestinians are being starved to death because there is a government that is intentionally starving those people to death.”
Activists gesture, with some displaying Palestinian flags, before the departure for Gaza of the Global Sumud Flotilla, in the port of Barcelona, Spain, August 31
Gaza flotilla an ‘act of symbolic resistance’
A new activist-led flotilla preparing to depart Barcelona for Gaza represents “an important act of symbolic resistance”, Mohammed Elmasry, professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, tells Al Jazeera.
“These organisers know that they are not going to solve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Elmasry said. “But this is about creating a spectacle. And those things are important, especially when they are cumulative.”
“We saw that with antiwar movements in the United States. We’ve seen it with South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. And we’re seeing it now. Global public opinion has shifted pretty dramatically in 23 months about Israel, and that is due in part to what activists are doing on the ground.”
Elmasry said the flotilla will likely face Israeli interception.
“I think ultimately, they will be detained or otherwise sent back. What’s going to solve the famine is governments doing their job to stop genocide and the deliberate starvation programmes.”
