SA activist details harrowing detention by Israeli forces during Gaza aid mission

RENEWS COMMITMENT TO PALESTINIAN CAUSE AMID INJUSTICE

- NADIA KHAN [e-mail]

CAPE Town activist Dr Fatima Hendricks recounted her traumatic six-day detention in an Israeli prison after being captured in international waters while participating in a humanitarian flotilla to Gaza.

Despite facing humiliation and abuse, including mockery about her mastectomy, the breast cancer survivor remains resolute in her commitment to the Palestinian cause.

Last week, Hendricks met the University of KwaZulu Natal’s occupational therapy academics as well as the third-year students in Durban where she spoke on “Health justice lessons learnt from the Global Sumud Flotilla”.

In an interview with the POST before her speaking engagement, Hendricks, an occupational therapist and author, shared her harrowing experience of being captured by the Israeli Defence Force while in international waters, and then detained in a prison under inhumane conditions for six-days.

The 50-year-old activist was among a group of six South Africans, including high-profile activist Mandla Mandela, who were captured while participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla, aimed at breaking the blockade on aid being provided to Palestinians living in Gaza.

Hendricks said the mission was not only a humanitarian effort, but a nonviolent demonstration against oppression and injustice, echoing the struggles of apartheid South Africa, she experienced firsthand.

Hendricks, who grew up in Reservoir Hills, said a very big part of her childhood was living through apartheid in South Africa.

She said she later became actively involved in student activism while studying at the then University of Durban-Westville, and her commitment to social justice continued across various parts of the world including in the US, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey.