The sailing ship the “Madleen” used by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in an attempt to break the illegal blockade of Gaza by the Zionist regime and deliver humanitarian aid to the beleaguered community of desperate and starving Gazans has been captured. The Madleen was seized in international waters off the coast of Gaza yesterday, its 12 crew and passengers including Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg were held in Israeli detention and the latest is that 4 persons including Greta herself has been deported from Israel. All attention are now focused on the remaining prisoners with urgent calls for their immediate release ringing around the world.
Who is Madleen?
What has probably slipped under the radar of the world’s attention is Madleen, the lady in whose honor the ship is named after? Why was her name specially chosen from amongst the millions of Gazans? This article chronicles her story which is no less compelling for it details the struggle of a fisherwoman battling against huge odds living under a cruel and heartless Israeli occupation regime. This lady goes by the name of Madleen Kulab a 30 year old
mother of five who, against all conventions, decided to become a fisherwoman, the only lady amongst the 4000 odd impoverished fishing community living in Gaza.
Being the daughter of a poor fisherman, she accompanied her father on his fishing trip ever since she was 6 and took his place on the fishing boat when she was 13 years of age when her father got sick. When asked why, she answered that she was the eldest sibling and had to do it to help her family survive. Every morning around 6 am, an hour before going to school, she would row her tiny boat a little out to sea and cast the nets. A ritual that was repeated daily also in the afternoon, shortly after the end of lessons (She attended school even then). She was the only woman that fished the seas of Gaza in a male dominated world that was back breaking work which only yielded pitiful sustenance at best.
Inspired by Madleen’s story, in 2013, the children’s book by Jordanian writer Taghreed al Najjar “Sitt al-Koll” was published by Salwa and illustrated by Syrian illustrator Gulnar Hajo. The story of the young heroine called Yousra, who becomes the first female fisherman in Gaza, defying all conventions, was translated into Italian by Leila Mattar and in 2018 the publisher Giunti published Contro Corrente. Storia di una ragazza “che 100 figli maschi”. In 2017, Al Jazeera News released a documentary: “Fish out of water: Gaza’s first fisherwoman”. Madleen, when she goes fishing, always wears a veil and bulky clothes that must also be kept on when swimming, when she dives into the water, for example, to check the nets and any catch. She was quoted as saying the following. “Despite the discomfort of the clothes, water is my natural element, when I am in the sea I can feel completely free. But it is also the moment when I am afraid. Fishermen do a very hard and dangerous job, not only because of the tiring rhythms dictated by the sea. What I am afraid of, and what looms over all the fishermen in Gaza, is the violent and systematic Israeli oppression, which imposes the siege on our lives and on our sea.”
Cruelty of Israeli Occupation Forces
Fishermen can cast their nets only in an area between 3 and 6 nautical miles when the fishing area established by the Oslo Accords was set at 20 miles. Before the embargo, here in Gaza, fishing was one of the main activities, but during the long years of siege, the fishing community has become among the poorest. The fishermen who remain active today mostly live below the poverty line. The best fish are found around 12 miles; near the coast little is caught, a few kilos and mostly consisting of sardines, shrimp, red mullet and crabs. Even before October 7, 2023, the Israeli regime tried its best to deny this important source of food to the entire population of Gaza.
She continues “As soon as one of our fishing boats tries to get closer than 5 nautical miles, Israeli military patrol boats swoop in and start shooting, seizing the boat and the nets. Or they throw jets of boiling water that burn, or they throw jets of liquid with a putrid smell that doesn’t leave you for days. Often they arrive and start to swirl around our dilapidated boats, until they sink or break them. Their warships are fast and huge compared to our fishing boats, which we can’t even maintain because the Israeli siege doesn’t allow us to import the necessary raw materials.”
There are recorded instances where the Israeli navy gunboats will fire at the unarmed fishermen in their boats
killing a few without any provocation. They kill without any a fear of retribution. Brutality doesn’t even begin the
describe the nature of these Zionist entities.
According to Madleen, “Israel often restricts and expands the fishing zone as a punitive measure, a kind of economic war declared on the strip and in particular on the fishermen, causing a deep sense of insecurity. It is an illegal collective punishment that has nothing to do with security. In fact, the most restrictive measures are often imposed during the best fishing period.”
Three years ago, her boat was also confiscated by Israel, with all its equipment, leaving Madleen completely unemployed and without any source of income. She felt like losing all hope but ever the indomitable soul, she managed to get a loan from the Bank of Palestine to buy a boat to be used for tourist trips for women and families. For a while, this gave her renewed hope but the current war put paid to all these plans.
Personal Loss
Madleen had experienced both the loss of her father who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023 and brother Kayed, a year younger than her, killed by Israeli army snipers while peacefully demonstrating at the “March of Return” leaving her as the sole provider for her family. Like thousands of Gazans, she has experienced the pain of losing her loved ones.
Her struggles
Despite these setbacks, Madleen Kulab has taken notable steps to encourage and empower women in Gaza by:
1. Advocacy and Awareness: She actively advocates for women’s rights and highlights the issues faced by women in Gaza, helping to raise awareness both locally and internationally.
2. Community Engagement: Madleen works within her community to support and motivate other women, encouraging them to pursue education, employment, and leadership roles despite the challenges.
3. Leading by Example: She demonstrates resilience and strength in her own life, serving as a role model to inspire other women to persevere and stand up for their rights.
Madleen’s Dreams
When the Flotilla organisers approached her with their proposal to name the ship in her name, she was reportedly very pleased and readily agreed to the suggestion. She complained that under Israeli occupation, their human and civil rights had been continuously and brazenly trampled and she hope that the international community will intervene as soon as possible. She saw herself as a fisherwoman and she wanted to be allowed to live in Gaza and work with dignity, raise her family in peace without the fear of being bombed, so that they can play, study, go to school like all the children in the world. That certainly is something that is a basic human right for any human being.
Epilogue
There are countless heroes and heroines in Gaza to serve their beleaguered community at great personal cost to their families and themselves amidst an ongoing genocide which the world has largely feigned to ignore. Madleen is a quintessential example of such a heroine. It is therefore no wonder that the FFC has chosen her name for the ship to symbolize the unequal struggle between the oppressed people of Gaza against the genocidal regime backed by America. God willing, she and her people will prevail.
Source: Exclusive for advocating peace
