Fishing under fire from the occupiers
A RECENT Freedom Flotilla boat heading to Gaza with food and medicines was named Madleen after a Gazan fisherwoman. Madleen Kullab started accompanying her dad on fishing trips as a child.
When Israeli fire injured him, she took on his role aged only 13. “My first attempts were very difficult…the boat capsized many times,” she said. “However, all this gave me strength and determination to carry on.”
People were scandalised that her family allowed her to work among men. “I faced a lot of problems from society but not from the fishermen,” she said. “I was brought up among fishermen since I was six years old. I proved myself – there is no rule that only men can be fishermen.
“I am not doing anything against our culture, tradition or religion.” But earning your living from fishing in Gaza is not like fishing anywhere else in the world. The Israeli navy regularly attacks the flimsy fleet and imposes an illegal and fluctuating three-mile limit on the fisherfolk. Kullab compares the unlimited seas, the better equipment and more powerful engines which fishing communities around the world enjoy.
“We try to catch fish but sadly the bullets of the Israeli occupiers follow us,” she said.
Since October 2023 the Israeli military has killed 232 fishermen and destroyed the fishing fleet. A group of volunteer supporters in Sheffield are raising money to buy replacement boats and equipment for the fishing communities in Gaza.
Spokesperson Musheir El Farra who made a film about Kullab said he was confident they have a future. “I saw their sheer determination,” he said.
