Following are excerpts from an address by Haya Al-Shatti, a Kuwaiti woman who participated in the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The address aired on Al-Jazeera TV on July 9, 2010.
· To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/0/0/0/0/0/0/2551.
· To view the MEMRI page for Flotilla, visit http://www.memri.org/subject/en/833.htm.
· To view the MEMRI TV page for Flotilla, visit http://www.memritv.org/subject/en/834.htm.
· To view the MEMRI Guide to the Middle East's page about the Flotilla, visit http://www.memri.org/flotilla/.
Haya Al-Shatti: "The moment I joined the convoy – and I didn't know anybody – I saw a South African guy standing there, holding out his hand. A Turkish girl, in her early thirties, approached him. She wore earrings, which I don't think cost more than $100. It was clear that this girl came from a very simple family.
"She tried to remove her earring and give it to this guy, as a donation for the people of Gaza. But she couldn't take it off. So she removed her other earring and put it in his hand.
"We were standing at the door of the bus, and the bus had to start moving. The bus driver said: 'We must go now,'and he started driving off. The girl was so scared that we would leave without her donation for the people of Gaza that she tore off her ear, and placed it in the hand of this guy. It was two carats, no more."
"This is Allah's way of telling us that while we sacrifice our time or our money, some people are ready to sacrifice their own flesh for the people of Gaza."
