A Scottish activist detained by Israeli authorities after being arrested aboard a ship carrying humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza, told yesterday of the conditions under which she and other prisoners are being held.
DAVID PRATT
A Scottish activist detained by Israeli authorities after being arrested aboard a ship carrying humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza, told yesterday of the conditions under which she and other prisoners are being held.
Theresa McDermott, 42, a postal worker from Pilrig, Edinburgh, along with other crew members from Spirit of Humanity are being held in Ramla jail near Tel Aviv.
According to McDermott the ship was seized in international waters, off the Israeli coastal town of Haifa on Tuesday. It was overtaken by eight Israeli navy warships that threatened to fire on the boat, which identified itself as a civilian ship bringing supplies to the Gaza Strip, and noted they had been cleared for sail by Cyprus customs authorities. The ship was nonetheless boarded and taken over, then brought to the Israeli port of Ashdod where activists were taken to prison facilities.
Twenty-one peace activists were on board, among them the Irish winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Mairead Maguire, and former US congress-woman Cynthia McKinney. There were six Britons, as well as activists from Denmark and the Middle East.
All were charged with illegal entry to Israel even though they had no intention of going to Israel, and were bound for the port of Gaza with a cargo of aid including medical supplies and books.
McDermott said Israeli officials had confiscated all their personal electronic items including laptops and mobile phones.
"Those of us still being held, can come together during the day but are separated into cells at night," she said, confirming that the activists had refused to be deported until the Israeli authorities guaranteed the safe return of their personal items, and released five Bahraini activists who were among those also taken into custody. The Bahrainis were kept in a separate facility from the other imprisoned solidarity and Free Gaza movement activists.
Yesterday, the Israelis released the five, and according to McDermott, they were flown out of Israel on a private jet provided by the King of Bahrain. Coordinator of the Palestinian International Campaign to Lift the Siege Amjad Ash-Shawa confirmed that one of the Bahraini nationals was a reporter for the Al-Jazeera network.
Two Palestinian activists and organisers with the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) were released earlier. According to an FGM spokesperson they were held in unsanitary warehouse quarters where they were questioned by Israeli intelligence officers.
McDermott sounded upbeat yesterday as she confirmed that she and the other prisoners might be deported on Monday though this has not yet been confirmed. McDermott who was on her way to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring was arrested on a similar trip in February, and held in an isolation cell for four days.
British consular officials are said to have visited her and other UK nationals.
Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin called for the swift release of two Irish nationals detained from the ship including the Nobel Peace Prize winner and a second man identified as Derek Graham. "I would again call for the release of Ms Maguire and Mr Graham as well as the other passengers detained on The Spirit of Humanity," he said.
"I would also call upon the Israeli Government to ensure that the humanitarian supplies for the people of Gaza being transported on Spirit of Humanity are made available as soon as possible to the Palestinian authorities for distribution."
Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz has also raised the matter of McDermott's arrest and detention with the Foreign Office. He said: "I am demanding that the Israelis immediately release my constituent and all those who took part in this voyage of mercy."
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are in touch with Israeli authorities and are monitoring the situation."
