Leigh Ann Naidoo hugs her daughter upon arriving earlier today at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee
7 October 2016
Former Olympian, Wits academic and activist Leigh Ann Naidoo arrived in South Africa today after being detained for about 36 hours by the Israeli government. Naidoo was on board the Women’s Boat to Gaza with 13 women from various countries when it was intercepted by the Israeli government on Wednesday. The aim of the boat trip was to raise awareness of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip, with a population of a little less than 2 million people (about half of Cape Town), is an area about one seventh the size of Cape Town. With the West Bank it constitutes the Palestinian territories that Israel has occupied since 1967. Because of a blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt, neither goods nor people are free to enter Gaza except under extremely strict conditions set primarily by the Israeli government.