On a Canadian ship, an activist will head to Gaza again

Kevin Neish, a Canadian peace activist who was on the Mavi Marmara Turkish aid-flotilla, is aiming to go to Gaza and risk it again, but this time through his country’s home-grown campaign, the Canadian Boat to Gaza, in 2011.

The Canadian Boat to Gaza has fundraised over one-third from the $300,000 total it seeks to purchase a boat and cover other related costs for its spring 2011 trip, which aims to break the Gaza blockade.

“The next flotilla should be larger than the last one of May 2010,” David Heap, a professor of Linguistics at the University of Western Ontario and one of the campaign’s organizers, told AlArabiya.net.

“When politicians have failed in lifting the inhuman and immoral siege of Gaza, the peoples of the world must lead, through civil society organizations,” Heap added.

The Canadian Boat to Gaza is also coordinating with other countries to participate sending their boats to break the blockade and the list includes Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Malaysia, U.S., Norway and Switzerland.

Not enough media coverage in Canada

After coming back to Canada to report on his Mavi Marmara ordeal, Neish said that he did not get enough media attention from big media corporations when he stated that there was an execution-style shooting that had occurred on the aid-flotilla.

Neish who is a retired marine engineer and now works a vocational instructor, opted to have tours covering major cities in Canada to raise awareness about the issue.

During his tours, attendees were galvanized while hearing his account, and in Ottawa civil society organizations, spanning unions, churches, Jewish institutes pro Palestinians all came together jointly to make the Canadian Boat for Gaza campaign.

“During my first press release, which was on Monday, I announced that I had witnessed evidence of executions,” Neish said, adding “the media did not report on that and they stopped interviews with me. The state owned CBC radio canceled interviews with me immediately; I was supposed to have an interview with them on Wednesday. “

According to a U.N. report, at least two of the nine activists were shot close range as they lay injured.

“When I walked past, through all the dead, I saw one elderly man on the deck with a bullet in the side of his head and then I saw another dead man with a bullet also in his head and he had wounds in his torso and on his legs.”

Neish tried to explain the scenario and said that the murdered man fell down and some Israeli commando shot him in the side of his head, “two people with bullet holes in their heads, that can’t be a coincidence or an accident.”

Shocked at the execution-style shooting, Neish said if it happened during a time of war, it would be considered a war crime to shoot a person in the side of the head.

Israelis were shocked to see whites on the ship

The Mavi Marmara which carried cargos that included food, wheelchairs, books, toys, electricity generators, medicine and building materials prohibited under the Israel blockade, such as cement, had around 37 nationalities on board, but majority stem from Muslim countries.

“The Israelis were shocked and surprised to see whites.”

According to Neish the severity of violence would not be the same if the Israelis knew that Westerners would be on board.

“They did not kill anyone on any other ship, they assaulted all the ships without provocations, we were not crossing any border.”

Mavi Marmara aid workers saved Israeli commandos

Apart from giving aid to two captured Israeli commandos, the peace-activists on the ship saved the life of one Israeli commando, when one, large-bodied aid-worker lost his temper and tried to hurt him.

“He could have killed him, he was reaching across him, he was swinging his arm trying to hit him, but two aid workers turned him back and they were yelling and shouting at him in Turkish or Arabic.“

When asked how unarmed peace activists can disarm two commandos, he said the aid workers were ready to die.

“They disarmed three Israelis and took them to the lower deck and threw their guns off the ship.”

Attacked without provocation

“I was on the stern of the ship when the Israelis tried to climb on board, that whole area… in an instant, erupted into smoke and flames, tear gas, and flash grenades…”

Neish said that it was the Israelis trying to board the ship without any provocation.

The aid workers told Neish that the Israelis were shooting objects similar to paint balls, but it contained some obnoxious chemicals.

Upon the provocation by the Israelis, Neish said the aid workers tried with wooden poles and fire hoses to repel the Israelis and to keep them away the ship.

Contrasting scenes

Before any capturing to any Israeli commandos, the medical area in deck two of the ship was empty of any dead or wounded.

According to him the nurses and doctors were equipped with small medical kits not suitable to treat people who were shot and about to die.

“Obviously waiting to treat cuts and bruises, broken arms, things of that nature, maybe stitching somebody.”

But after the capture of the Israeli commandos, the place was swarmed with the injured and later the dead.

“By the end, when I walked back through that exact same area, it was full of bodies; the bodies were touching each other from end to end.”

According to him, one man who was severely wounded was left to die, as the doctors and nurses prioritized people who had more chances to live.

The Canadian boat will fit about 24-40 peace activists and journalists, he said. The aid will focus on necessities Palestinians need from medical and education supplies.

“The blockade is illegal; Israelis have no right to be in Gaza,” he said.


To make donation for the campaign:
http://canadaboatgaza.org/cms/sites/cbg/en/donations.aspx