Palestine: All Eyes on Madleen
+ acts of resistence
I’ll level with you. The last month has been a lot. On all accounts: personal, professional, and the world at large. Hence, I did not send my monthly sub. It wasn’t through lack of writing: at he start of May, I had written an entirely different substack to the one you’re about to read: a thought piece tied up in my internal world. But as my finger hovered over the button, I couldn’t bring myself to press it.
Why? As explored in the poem above, to write on such things is a luxury, one that I have been acutely aware of over the last two years. Yes, I believe writing and art should reflect the whole spectrum of human emotion, and we shouldn’t shy away from sharing personal experiences, which can often make for the best writing. But I also seek to write work that speaks to the times we live in. And nothing is more pressing to our current times than the struggle for Palestinian freedom. There is rarely been a day that goes by that I do not think of the Palestinian people.
At the start of this year, I wrote a substack shortly after the “ceasefire” in Gaza, when there was the slightest sliver of hope that the situation could improve. Now, the state that the Palestinian people find themselves in is beyond comprehension. As well as direct attacks, a very real state of famine faces Gaza. Swathes of people are being denied fundamental human rights to food, resources and aid. Seeing it play out in front of our eyes means there is no escape – those with power and influence over this genocide will never be able to claim ignorance.
And today, comes the urgent matter of the Madleen.
When I started writing this piece, Madleen (also known as the Freedom Flotilla) – containing Greta Thumburg amongst other activists – was sailing into Gaza in order to deliver vital aid and resources to Palestinians. This mission, though ambitious, is one that brought a degree of hope to our otherwise devastating feeds. But in unfolding news, it was reported this morning that the Madleen was forcibly intercepted by Israeli forces (who dropped harmful chemicals onto the ship), despite them having “no legal authority to detain the Madleen crew in international waters and confiscate aid onboard”. These events speak for themselves. Because this is a UK ship, our government have a legal duty to protect everyone onboard. As stated in this post, if Israel attacks the ship, it will be “a direct violation of UK sovereignty and international law”. It has now been reported that Israeli forces have abducted the passengers onboard – more information is laid out in this post, and you can write to your MP here to stop this unlawful act and help bring aid to Gaza.
With devastating events unfurling each day, it is easy to feel like there is little control we have as individuals – it is something that has filled me with a sense of futility in the past. However, there are profound moments where we see the forceful actions of individuals and groups which can galvanise public consciousness and put needed pressure on governments. Continuing to challenge the UK government’s ongoing complicity in arms deals is key, as eloquently and passionately articulated by this audience member at Question Time.
There continue to be growing acts of resistance in the UK: on Thursday, playwright Carol Churchill pulled her play from the Donmar Warehouse due to their £6.1bn financing to arms companies whose technology and weapons are used in Israel’s attack on Palestinians (Churchill wrote a short play on Gaza, 7 Jewish Children, staged over 10 years ago).
At the end of last month, more than 300 public figures wrote a letter to the UK government to suspend arms deals to Israel, organised by Choose Love; many of whom stood up in front of parliament to read the names of the 15,613 Palestinian children killed. But as they say, words are simply not enough.
It took them 18 hours to read each name.
I want to be clear: it’s my strong belief that anti-Zionism is wholly separate from anti-Semitism. It is the fear of conflating the two which is part of the reason why so many, including the UK’s leaders, have not wholeheartedly got behind the Palestinian people. There are a vast number of Jewish people throughout the world who are speaking up in support of Palestinians. Indeed, Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos spoke at the reading above, and Jewish poet Michael Rosen continues to give a voice to the plight of the Palestinian people, as he has done throughout his career (read his 2014 poem, here), and groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace are doing incredible work, among many more.
Yes, as individuals, our power may feel limited. However, there are things we can each do – and when voices are put together, history can be made. If you are in the UK, you can write to your MP to stop arms deals using this simple template here. Read the BOYCOTT list and make informed decisions on what you are consuming. You can donate to MAP to help bring vital aid to the Palestinian people. Keep up-to-date via Palestinian Solidarity UK and Humanti Project.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Watching this extreme Zionism in the West Bank shone a stark light on the reality there: how the Palestinian people have been gradually, inhumanely expelled from their land by military forces, and have been so for decades (he first made a documentary on extreme Zionism over ten years ago). Despite it being hard to watch, I cannot say I was shocked. In this article written since its release, Theroux states how the situation there was “even more severe than what they could capture on film”.
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
Published in April 2023, this novel explores a Palestinian-British woman, Sonia, returning to her family’s home after many years. The story explores the struggles of Palestinians in the West Bank, through the unlikely context of staging a production of Hamlet – exploring how little opportunity is afforded to Palestinians in the way of artistic expression, as well as basic human freedoms.
I picked up this collection of poems at the City Lights Book Shop in San Francisco, where it caught my eye from the window display. The poems are raw, moving and deeply evocative expressions of life in Gaza.
7 Jewish Children by Caryl Churchill
As mentioned above, Churchill has been a long-time advocate for Palestine. Her short play, 7 Jewish Children, was brought to my attention recently, written in 2009 in response to the 2008 military strike on Gaza. You can read the play for free here.
If you have any further recommendations on Palestinian reads, please leave a comment.
Upcoming events will be coming to you on a separate substack.