The Eindhoven activist Ammar, who was part of the Gazahulp fleet, was received on Tuesday afternoon under loud applause on Eindhoven Airport. His ship was on his way to Gaza, but was intercepted by the Israeli navy. Ammar has mixed feelings to the journey. “I wasn’t ready yet.”
When Ammar runs out of Eindhoven on Tuesday afternoon, he is welcomed by dozens of cheering people. They channel his name, wave with Palestinian flags and keep banners up to express their support. “Of course I wanted to go home,” he says. “But I have mixed feelings to the journey.”
Ammar tries to forget his time in prison as quickly as possible, although he was not yet done with his mission. “It felt good to be there, even though the area had since been taken over by Israel.”
In the Israeli prison, the activist experienced a few of the toughest days of his life. “I’ve never been in such a fierce situation,” he says. “I was dressed. I wanted to do something, but couldn’t do anything.”
For fear of the consequences, he removes his origins. “If they had found out that I am Syrian, that could have had great consequences. That is why I maintained that I am completely Dutch.”
“I feared for my life.”
According to him, the circumstances were terrible. “I even feared for my life. A guard spoke to me, but I didn’t understand him. When I said that, he called me a liar and blindfolded me. I was taken, without knowing where to go. I thought: Fortunately I still live, but it was dead.”
Ammar is not regretted that he went with the help fleet. “It is important that we stand up against the genocide,” he says. “We can all sit down at home and call ‘free Palestine’, but we don’t solve anything with that. I was aware of the risk that I took, but it was all worth it. We have to make a statement. That also includes sacrifices.”
Coincidentally, Ammar can return to his friends and relatives on this October 7. It is exactly two years after a number of Israelis were captured by Hamas, a large group has still not been released.
Ammar cherishes that he can put his family in his arms again. “My mother did not know that I went with the fleet. I was worried that I would die and never see her again. But I’m going to see her again,” he says.
Memorial service
Where there is also a consideration at the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 is on Anne Frankplein in Den Bosch. There on Tuesday evening about fifteen people come together to commemorate the hostages who have been stuck since. But other war victims are also being considered. “We all want peace. Anyone who is confronted with war must be thought of,” says Bernadette. Her daughter and grandchildren live in Israel and are confronted daily with the consequences of the war.
“My daughter and grandchildren with a Dutch passport do not dare to come to the Netherlands. Then she says: Mama, anti -Semitism in Europe is so bad. Then I have to tell the children that they talk softly in Efteling, because they hear otherwise they talk Israeli,” says Bernadette. On the square she thinks about her daughter in silence on Tuesday evening, but also of other victims in all war zones in the world. “Silence produces love and love is the power of the solution of everything.”
Organizer Frank De Bie wants to let people come together with the commemoration to emphasize the suffering on both sides. “We think in serene peace, without calling horns, without noise, without pots and pans of the war victims. It is horrible what happens,” he says. Frank thinks it is good that people take to the streets to express themselves, but also lacks attention for the 48 hostages who are still stuck. “They are still in the Tunnels of Hamas and you don’t hear anyone about that anymore.”
It is not a pro-Israel or Pro-Palestina meeting, but together with the other people present he reflects on the atrocities of the war. “Here there is an opportunity not to be on one of the sides, but to live in both sides,” says Mariska, who is also on the square. “I think it’s terrible what’s going on. It’s good that people raise their voice, but that doesn’t fit my nature. I think about what is happening here.”
