Women's activist boat to Gaza arrives at Corsica island

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) – One of two boats carrying an international group of female activists sailing to the Gaza Strip to end the Israeli blockade arrived on Monday to the French island of Corsica.

The Zaytouna-Oliva boat, part of the Women’s Boat to Gaza (WBG) mission, left Barcelona last Wednesday and reached Corsica’s capital, Ajaccio, early Monday morning, carrying women from nine countries across five continents.

Meanwhile, its sister boat Amal-Hope was forced to sail back to Barcelona because of mechanical problems.

“Based on a professional assessment, she [Amal-Hope boat] will not be in condition to follow Zaytouna-Oliva,” the organizers said on their website, adding that they “are actively pursuing a new ship and are launching a campaign to defray this additional cost.”

Organizers said: “By launching a women’s boat, women from all over the world aim to highlight the undeniable contributions of Palestinian women who have been central within the Palestinian struggle.”

The sailboat, carrying humanitarian aid, is expected to reach Gaza in early October. The Women’s Boat to Gaza (WBG) is an initiative of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, composed of civil society organizations and campaigns from more than a dozen countries, including Turkey.

In June 2015, Israeli forces captured the flagship Marianne - a similar Freedom Flotilla initiative- and arrested activists on board.

A similar protest ended in tragedy in 2010 when ships carrying aid to Gaza were raided by Israeli commandos who killed 10 Turkish activists.

The nearly decade-long blockade of the Gaza strip by Israel - which chokes the lifeline to 1.8 million people - was imposed to put pressure on ruling party Hamas.

Since then, the blockade has cut Gaza’s gross domestic product in half and led to the highest unemployment rate in the world, according to a 2015 World Bank report.

Gazans suffer from poor access to basic services and most cannot leave the enclave without special travel permits.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has referred to the blockade as “collective punishment”.