Fifteen years ago, Palestinian American human rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf was sailing with a flotilla carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza when Israeli forces intercepted the ships, killing 10 activists.
It was not her first attempt to help civilians suffering under Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory, which it tightened after Hamas seized control in 2007, nor would it be her last.
Since then, Ms Arraf has attempted to make that trip several times, each time with different difficulties. The most recent was aboard the Handala, which was intercepted by Israel on Sunday and all 21 people on board detained.
Israel said it was stopping the ship from “illegally entering the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza”, which is under a blockade by Israeli forces that is illegal under international law.
“To stop a small boat carrying baby formula and teddy bears for kids in Gaza, they sent their elite commando forces,” Ms Arraf said. “We couldn’t see in the dark but could see on the radar eight military warships.”
That is when Ms Arraf sent her now famous radio message statement to the Israeli army, demanding that they stand down as they had no authority to enforce a blockade over Gaza.
Men in Israeli military fatigues carrying weapons and cameras boarded the ship as the volunteers sat on the deck with life jackets on and their hands raised.
“They were filming themselves saying that we're safe, that they had doctors and giving us water. We rejected all of it and told them we're not taking anything from an entity that's deliberately starving children, and that our lives are not more valuable than theirs.”
Ms Arraf, who also has an Israeli passport, was not deported and remains in Israel. Six other US nationals who were aboard the Handala are being held in an Israeli prison along with two Spanish citizens, a Tunisian and a Norwegian. The rest of those aboard the Handala were either released or deported.
Lawyers for those detained issued a statement saying that their clients were being held in poor conditions in Israel's Givon prison in Ramlah – in unventilated cells infested with bed bugs, and with no time outdoors.
The National contacted the Israeli Prison Services for comment.
Ms Arraf's latest attempt to break the blockade on Gaza comes as the territory's population experiences famine after months of Israeli restrictions on the entry of food as part of its war against Hamas since October 2023.
Israeli tactics
Ms Arraf was part of the very first flotilla to attempt to break the Israeli blockade in 2008, under a coalition of rights and pro-Palestinian groups called the Free Gaza Movement.
A total of 44 people from 17 countries set sail for Gaza from Cyprus in two small fishing boats.
“We were not a threat. We had parliamentarians, journalists and all kinds of people. They would have to attack us to stop us – so people can see that Israel's policy has nothing to do with security but punishing the Palestinian people as a form of collective punishment, which is a war crime,” she said.
Although Israel threatened to stop the ships, and jammed their communications at sea, they did not intercept them.
But everything changed after the first Israel-Gaza war broke out in December that year, as Israel launch an aerial and ground assault it called Operation Cast Lead.
By the summer of 2009, activists had made three attempts to reach Gaza by sea and came under Israeli attack every time.
“At that point, we had a choice – either say that this isn't working any more and we stop or, we had to escalate. But we didn't want to give in to the notion that Israel is stronger than the rights we were seeking,” Ms Arraf said.
But things only became worse. In May 2010, a flotilla carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid and 700 people from 36 countries were subjected to lethal force by Israeli forces. Nine activists on the Turkish ship MV Mavi Marmara were killed when boarders opened fire, with a tenth dying after four years in a coma.
Ms Arraf laments how little has changed in terms of global silence and complicity with Israel's actions in Gaza.
“In what legal moral order do you allow a state under trial for genocide to control what aid is getting to the people it's exterminating?”
But she says she is determined to keep going.
“They want us to accept a world in which there are no human rights protections or respect of international law and where might is right. But this is a world no one should accept.”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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Available: Now
