“I was proud that someone was interested in my story”: Madleen Kulab, the Gaza fisherman who inspired the name of the ship who wanted to break Israel's blockade in the strip

The choice of the name was symbolic, with the objective of “highlighting the suffering of fishermen in Gaza and supporting the women of the strip,” according to the organizers.

The Madleen failed to get to Gaza. The Israeli forces captured the ship and their crew and took them to an Israeli port. The activists were aborned before Israeli courts, and others arrived in Paris after being deported.

The BBC spoke with Madleen, who told us his story in Gaza Sea, his life during the current war in the strip and his feelings about inspiring the name of the boat.

Madleen, 31, says he started fishing with his father from a young age. At age 13, her father became ill, which forced her to continue fishing as a family profession and “only source of income.”

She is not only fisherman, but also a mother of four children. She is two months pregnant and expresses her fear for the future of the children of the Gaza Strip.

“More than a year and a half of the life of our children has wasted. Without education, without a decent life, without toys … we have no means to survive; we have no electricity, or water, and we have to walk long distances to look for water.”

But all the circumstances that Madleen live daily have not prevented him from taking a moment to remember his life as a fisherman before the war in the Gaza Strip.

“We got up in the morning, we prepared and sometimes we started the day at night if there was fishing available. It was a beautiful life, although the sea in Gaza did not give us a lot of fishing, but at least we could find something to eat,” he says.

And he adds: “We did not live with luxuries, but we could feed our children and, most importantly, we felt safe. We could sleep when we wanted to, wake up when we wanted to and leave our children without fear. Everything was available. Today, there is nothing”

Despite his dreamy tone when talking about memories of the prewar, this did not prevent him from mentioning the “dangers” surrounding the profession of fishing.

Madleen says: “We were only allowed to fish within a radius of five kilometers, and when we approached the border areas to recover our networks, which we used to lose due to the sea currents, we were shot or confiscated by vessels. If any of us wanted to fish at sea without risk, it had to remain less than three kilometers from the coast, an area where fishing did not abound.”

“From our home, to the Al-Shifa hospital, then to Khan Yunis, Rafah, Deir Al-Balah and An-Nuseirat.” Madleen lists these areas not to present us the geography of Gaza, but to give us an idea of ​​the trajectory of his displacement during the war.

She describes the first days of war, which disrupts her life completely.

“At first, our main concern was to get provisions. It never occurred to us that they would move us, but they did it for the first time ten days after the start of the war.”

Madleen continues: “I never returned home or to the area where I used to fish. The displacement made us forget everything. We had nothing anymore. During the war I did not try to return to the sea. We had nothing: neither ships, nor anyone.”

The connection with Madleen was lost during our interview, but then it is reconnected and says that the Internet connection was cut.

He told us how the ship, “Madleen”, received his name: “A Canadian activist contacted me. He knows me as a fisherman and told me that they wanted to put my name to a ship that was heading to Gaza because they believe that I have had difficulties in life and that I represent a success case in a restricted profession to men.”

“They told me that it was a peaceful ship, which only transported provisions and food for the people of Gaza,” he says.

“I was proud that someone was interested in my story and me,” said Madleen.

“They know my story as a fisherman since 2012 and know how much I have suffered and fought in life. They know how much I suffer with war with my four children, so they wanted to honor me by putting my name to the ship.”

Then he described his feelings about the journey of the ship: “We continue the news about the ship and we hoped that it would arrive in Gaza, although we knew it would finally be arrested.”

“My message is that we are peaceful. We sail to make a living. Before the war, our only concern was to give bread and food to our children. We just want to live a dignified life, security and peace,” he said.

“We want the blockade to be lifted and the war ends. We cannot continue with this fear and this hunger. We are people who want to live,” said Madlen when we ask about the message we wanted to convey when they accept that they baute the ship with its name.

“My husband is a fisherman, and his family is too. We met fishing,” says Madleen. “Everything he and his family possessed, and everything they built throughout their lives, lost it during the war.”

Madleen and her husband formed a family composed of Sandy, six years old, Safinaz, five, Jamal, three, and Wasila, a year and a half. She tells her daily struggle to attend the requests of her children, which she cannot satisfy due to war and blockade.

“We cannot give them anything that our children ask for, whether chicken, fruit or anything else, because there is nothing available. Sometimes my daughter tells me: 'I want to eat Kabsa', a half -made dish made with rice, chicken and spices. I say: 'I will prepare it only with rice.' She refuses and says: 'I want it with chicken'.

“My children see fruits on the Internet, such as bananas, apples and watermelons, and ask for them. But even those that are expensive. A small watermelon in Gaza costs up to US $ 50. No one can buy it at that price. We hope they lift the blockade, because we are tired,” he says.

Madleen's life was not limited to the difficulties of fishing, to which he was forced from a young age to make a living. He tried other paths repeatedly. He learned fashion design at age 16, but could not follow a career due to lack of opportunities.

At 21 he began studying executive secretariat at the university, but never graduated for not being able to pay the registration. Madleen continued his life as he had met her since childhood: as a fisherman.

But this profession, which was also considered a “hobby”, brought additional difficulties.

“Fishing has been my hobby since I was a child, but I was forced to dedicate myself to her professionally. The circumstances did not favor me. The price of the fuel was high, the engine of my ship was always damaged and the fishing was scarce,” he says.

“To that the climatic conditions were added: the scorching sun in summer and the cold in winter. The sea was a fight. I suffered a lot. I need another twenty years of words to express the magnitude of my suffering with this profession.”

The interview with Madleen concluded with another Internet cut, but that did not prevent us from hearing his last words, which demonstrates his deep attachment to the sea:

“As a child, our house was a few meters from the sea. The school bus did not take me home, but to a small tent that my father rode along the sea, where he went to fish. He found him putting a teapot on the fire and preparing grill fish.”

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