Beacher arrested as part of Gaza flotilla

[attach]4659[/attach]Beach resident Sandra Ruch decided to take a Mediterranean cruise this summer and found herself in a Greek jail.

This was no pleasure cruise. Ruch joined a 12-ship convoy to Gaza called the Freedom Flotilla II, named after a similar mission in 2010 saw nine activists killed by Israeli forces.

Ruch travelled to the Greek island of Crete where she was in charge of logistics such as scouting out the area and purchasing the ship, renamed the Tahrir.

When the 47 other Tahrir crewmembers arrived on Crete they did so quietly.

“Everyone pretended to be tourists and that I was the tour leader,” she explained. “They did their training and got ready to go but then our boat got identified as one of the boats to Gaza and we were told that we couldn’t go.”

The entire flotilla, whose aim was to bring supplies to Gaza and raise awareness of Israel’s blockade of the region, was held in port by the Greek coast guard who refused to let them leave finding a constant stream of violations with the vessels.

“Every day something else came up; questions about our captain’s papers, questions about the size of the beds, just anything they could think of, anything to keep us detained,” she said adding the Tahrir had been deemed sea worthy for up to 50 passengers by an international inspection bureau. “Even when we started asking for permission to go to different places they just kept up with the inspections.”

[attach]4660[/attach]The group soon grew frustrated Ruch said, especially when they were told they could not leave because they didn’t have any hot water.

“The temperature had been about 40 degrees and the only water coming out of the tap was hot water,” she said.

During this time the crew took turns watching at night, with lights in the water, on the lookout for those wishing to do them harm.

“We had 24-hour security on our boat because we were very worried about the Israelis sabotaging it,” she said.

At one point Ruch ended up in hot water herself when the crew attempted to leave the harbour.

“What we wanted to do was try and get some attention to the fact that we couldn’t move the boat,” she explained.

The Tahrir made a break from the coast guard boats with the help of two activists in kayaks who got in the way of authorities.

Ruch stayed on the dock during the incident to help gather attention from locals and media. She was subsequently arrested and put in jail overnight. The two activists in the kayaks were also detained.

Ruch now faces three charges but said they have yet to be translated to her.

“Our Canadian consulate or embassy in Greece didn’t provide me with translators or any kind of help at all,” she said. “I’ve just been on my own.”

After the incident on July 4, Ruch stayed until the end of the month before deciding to return to Canada.

Ruch, who is Jewish, spent two years living in Haifa, Israel but became disenchanted with the government after seeing how Palestinians were being treated.

“A long time ago I was a Zionist but after I saw what the Israeli government was really doing to the Palestinian people and how horrible occupation really looks like I knew that I had to be part of making the difference,” she said adding she would only support an Israel where Jews, Arabs, Christians and others would live as equal citizens.

“We are anti-occupation Jews,” she said. “We want to see an end to this and we do not equate being anti-Zionist with anti-Semitism.”

Ruch said the Tahrir is now out of Greece and safely docked in an undisclosed location. Although she and the rest of the crew never made it to Gaza, she said they all knew beforehand that would be almost impossible.

“Likely … everybody would have gone to an Israeli jail and been deported home,” she said, later adding, “I’m not sure where we all get (the courage).

“We’re driven to do what we believe in and our captain was a very honest man and said you have to do what’s right. I think that’s all how we feel.”