Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, returned to South Africa on Wednesday after spending six days in an Israeli prison after the Global Sumud Flotilla was intercepted last Thursday. (Busi Lethole/M&G)
The six South African activists who had joined a flotilla trying to get humanitarian aid to Palestinians and were detained in an Israeli prison have renewed calls to governments to take action against Israel for its war on Gaza.
Fatima Hendricks, Zaheera Soomar, Zukiswa Wanner, Reaaz Moola, Carrie Shelver, and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, returned to South Africa on Wednesday after spending six days in an Israeli prison after the Global Sumud Flotilla was intercepted last Thursday.
The flotilla carried nearly 500 people from more than 40 countries who set sail to deliver food and medical supplies to Gaza, which has been under a heightened siege by the Israeli government for the last two years.
The activists said they had a glimpse of the humiliation and degradation that Gaza residents and Palestinians are subjected to daily.
“I feel disappointed because I don’t feel we accomplished the mission, because we were kidnapped before we could do so and one of the things that will stay forever with me is the image of the Palestinian children — the people in Gaza waiting hopeful that we would arrive and then we didn’t,” Wanner, a journalist and novelist, told the Mail & Guardian on the sidelines of the press conference.
“That breaks my heart all the time and I really wish at this point in time — seeing those images, seeing what happened to the flotilla that governments across the world, beyond just Colombia would go into a space and say ‘you know what, we’re going to do something because really this is not something civilians should be doing, this is something governments should be doing.”
The South African activists said they were treated differently from other detained activists due to their nationality.
“Forty-seven of our boats were intercepted, we were detained by apartheid Israel’s navy and taken to Ashdod. Many of (us) were denied food as we sailed to Ashdod,” Mandela told journalists.
Video by: Busi Lethole / M&G
“On our arrival in Ashdod, we came to the realisation that there will never be justice on stolen land. We were harshly dealt with by the brutal Israeli regime. We were handcuffed with cable ties, tied tightly behind our backs, taken off our boats, and put on the platform. Paraded for all the Israelis and their allies in Europe and the West and the global community to see.”
He added that the South African delegation was refused showers and had no right to legal counsel or legal representation during their detention.
Hendricks and Soomar said they were forced to remove their hijabs, were pushed against walls, and had to strip in front of Israeli forces.
They were taken to Ketziot Prison in Gaza, where they were detained and stripped of all their belongings. The names and blood stains of former Palestinian prisoners and martyrs were inscribed on the walls, Mandela said.
Supporters wait for activists at OR Tambo International Airport after they were detained by Israel. (Busi Lethole/M&G)
The delegates were forced to sign a document stating that they had entered Israel illegally, which they refused to do, he added. He urged supporters gathered at the airport to call on governments to act against Israel.
“We want to say as your representatives in the Global Sumud Flotilla, as we return, do not forget that six of our comrades are remaining in Israeli jails. One Spanish, two Moroccans, and three Norwegians. We call every one of you to exact pressure on our government and governments across the globe to call for their immediate release.”
Wanner said the South African government needs to “stop paying lip service to solidarity for Palestine”.
“We didn’t like the bantustans in our country, why are we okay with Palestinians having bantustans?” she said, referring to the homelands set aside for blacks during apartheid in South Africa.
Mandela said the activists’ experience had renewed their resolve to continue fighting the Palestinian cause and they would start planning the next flotilla and how to break through the besieged area.
“I said we will return. We will already, from our arrival, work on the second flotilla to send another wave to the shores of Gaza,” he said.
“We will also look at another avenue of accessing occupied Palestine through other borders. We call on you to utilise this period to devise a strategy and tactics as to how we can further the Palestinian cause.”