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Spanish activist Saif Abukeshek has returned to Barcelona after being detained without charge in Israel alongside Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila following the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla humanitarian mission to Gaza.

 

Abukeshek arrived at Barcelona airport at around 5.30pm on Sunday May 10, where he was greeted by a group of activists chanting slogans in support of Palestine and condemning Israel. Upon his arrival, he declared that “Israel violates human rights at any time and in any place”.

 

The activist had been aboard one of 22 vessels taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla mission, which departed from Barcelona on April 12 carrying humanitarian aid intended for Gaza. According to organisers, the flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces on April 30 in international waters near the Greek island of Crete, around 1,000 kilometres from Israeli territory.

 

A total of 175 activists were detained after Israeli forces boarded the vessels. Most were later disembarked in Greece, but Abukeshek and Ávila remained in Israeli custody for a further nine days before being deported. Ávila is expected to travel to Brazil from Egypt.

 

Speaking at the airport, Abukeshek said he was pleased to be back in Barcelona, where he has lived with his wife and three children for the last 20 years, but added, “I can’t promise I won’t do it again,” confirming that he plans to rejoin the flotilla in Turkey.

 

He also spoke about Palestinian detainees, referring to the “thousands and thousands of Palestinian prisoners who are left behind, left defenceless, tortured and raped on a continuous basis”.

 

He added, “Rights are for everyone, they are not exclusive to just a few.”

 

Abukeshek explained that he had been travelling aboard an observer vessel that was not intended to reach Gaza directly. Recalling his interrogation, he said: “They kept asking me why I had gone there, but it was they who came looking for us.”

 

Israel reportedly accused Abukeshek of being “suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organisation”, while Ávila was accused of “illegal activity”.

 

Abukeshek rejected the allegations, saying: “Every day they told me they had evidence, that they were certain, and in the end they closed the investigation without bringing me before a judge. The terrorists are the genocidal occupying governments.”

 

He further criticised what he described as international inaction, echoing previous statements by fellow freed Spanish activist Salim Malla, stating: “What we have witnessed during our detention is the result of impunity and the complicity of governments that allow Israel to act as it does.”

 

Abukeshek also described conditions during his detention. He said that after being held for 40 hours at sea in Israeli custody, he and Ávila were separated from the other flotilla members once they arrived in Greece. Reports of assaults by Israeli forces had already emerged by that point, he said.

 

The activist added that he began a hunger strike while in detention, eventually refusing food, water and speech in protest at being held without charge. According to Abukeshek, guards attempted to persuade him to end the protest by offering him desserts from his hometown and playing Palestinian songs.

 

“They repeated their version of the displacement and the genocide to me over and over again, and told me that Palestine does not exist. They repeated this to me many times,” he said.

 

Born in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Abukeshek has lived in Spain for around two decades and is one of the founders of the Global Movement to Gaza in Spain, one of the organisations involved in the flotilla initiative.

 

He is also a member of the Palestinian Community in Catalonia and head of international affairs for the trade union Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya (IAC).

 

Last year, Abukeshek was detained for three days in Egypt while taking part in an attempt to establish a humanitarian corridor to Rafah during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. He later reported being tortured during that detention.

 

Image: Global Sumud Flotilla