(The following article is from the June 16-30,  2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

Kevin Neish, one of the Canadian activists on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla who were kidnapped by Israeli troops on May 31, was interviewed by Mark Forsythe on CBC's radio show B.C. Almanac, on June 3. The following excerpts are from a transcript by People's Voice editor Kimball Cariou.

CBC: What happened and when did you realise that Israeli commandos were coming aboard the ship?

Kevin Neish: There's two stairwells going between the two decks at either end of the ship. I was in the forward stairwell. Actually I did see the fighting. The Israelis were sticking guns in the first deck doorway and firing into the hallway.

CBC: To your knowledge, how many people were killed on board that vessel that you were on?

Neish: All the deaths happened on our vessel [the Mavi Marmara - Ed.] ...I saw two dead for sure when they took over the bridge and the captain announced, "stop fighting, the bridge has been taken over." The lower deck lobby area, when I went down at the end, was covered with bodies. They were all writhing, people were jumping on chests trying to keep them alive. There was blood everywhere, bodies everywhere. I had blood on my pants.

CBC: There are allegations that IHH, the group behind putting this flotilla together, is an extremist group that has ties to Hamas and al-Qaeda.

Neish: I don't know anything about that. What I saw was a ship full of humanitarian workers, a ship full of aid, a ship full of women. There was a whole deck of women. Old men. They had the patriarch, an 89 year old man, he was arrested and beat up. What I know is that I was threatened by the Israelis a number of times. When I was chained up they wouldn't let me go to the bathroom for 15 hours. You had to beg to go to the bathroom. It was quite disgusting and filthy.

CBC: This is when you were in custody with the Israelis?

Neish: They had me tied up with plastic handcuffs for about 25 hours on the ship. I was one of the last ones to be released off the ship. That's why the embassy thought I was dead... Then I was jailed in Beersheba for a couple of days as well.

CBC: Do you have any worries at all that you were co-opted by a group that had ulterior motives?

Neish: No. (Laughs). No question in my mind. If they wanted to defend that ship they would have brought weapons on board. Immediately before the Israelis attacked, the crew and the aid workers were running around the ship finding things to defend themselves with. They didn't bring anything with them. When I came on board they searched my bag. I had a pocket knife in my bag. They threw it away because they wouldn't allow any weapons on board... When it was obvious the Israelis were going to attack, I could hear grinders going. They were grinding the chains off the fencing around the ship so they had something to use. If they were planning on attacking the Israelis with weapons, they would have brought weapons with them...

     I can tell you that I was treated very poorly by the Israelis. Like I say, I was 15 hours without being allowed to go to the washroom, and 24 hours without really being allowed to stand. I had guns put in my face, I had a revolver put right into my face. I had people aim guns at me steady. Any time I tried to rise up and stretch, I had a gun on me. I had a dog snapping at me. You try and sit in one spot for 25 hours, with your hands trussed in front of you, and if you ask for the bathroom too many times, a soldier would walk over, take the tie wrap and yank on it and cinch it up so tight, the back of my right hand is still numb.

     The whole night in the prison, both nights, they'd walk around every two hours and yell in the doors, "who's in here, what country?" ... This kept us awake all night. That was after two nights of no sleep, with the fighting and everything else. It was calculated, it was cruel, and it was demeaning.

     ....As far as being co-opted by anybody, I'm not an idiot. I've done this all my life. I've been in Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, and Palestine earlier. Nobody co-opts me. If anybody says I'm co-opted, come and tell me to my face. I wasn't born yesterday.