We speak to two activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla as it prepares to set sail for Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade. In recent days, two drone attacks on the flotilla ships, which are docked in Tunisia, have been reported. “We know who has interest in stopping these flotillas,” says Mariana Mortágua, a Portuguese parliamentarian who has joined the Global Sumud Flotilla and suspects the strikes were the work of the Israeli military. Mortágua says she has joined the flotilla because it’s “my duty to be here and to help in any way I can … to show people that Gaza is a real place. It’s not an abstract location. Gaza exists. It’s there. Real people are living there and are living under attack.”
We also hear from Saif Abukeshek, a Palestinian activist based in Barcelona and a member of the Global Sumud Flotilla steering committee. “There is no one mission or campaign that will have a direct outcome impact. But I believe solidarity work is an accumulative process that we have to build in,” says Abukeshek. “We have to mobilize people around the world. We have to get pressure on governments, because that’s the only way that Israel will listen and will stop their crimes.”
