A 25-year-old activist who set out to walk from Sweden to Palestine to raise awareness about human rights violations in the occupied territory hopes to complete his journey on Thursday.
Tomorrow I will make the final distance of my journey and arrive at the border of occupied Palestine," Benjamin Ladraa wrote Wednesday on Instagram.
"There is a big probability that the occupying Israeli soldiers will not let me enter Palestine so I have a favor to ask of everyone if this happens," he wrote, asking supporters to join him in raising awareness about human rights abuses committed by Israel against Palestinians.
"If they don't let me in tomorrow it is a very good opportunity to try and get the media around the world to talk about how Israel is blocking human rights activists from entering Palestine. So I need everyone to contact as many newspapers, TV stations, News Agencys etc as possible and share this story," Ladraa asked.
Ladraa arrived in Jordan on June 26, and he plans to enter Palestine through the West Bank.
Ladraa said he Googled media outlets in each of the countries he walked through on his journey, to ask them to help his cause receive news coverage. Daily Sabah met him in Ankara in April to hear his story and amplify his voice.
He asked his followers to watch his journey on Thursday and Friday to see how Israeli authorities would react to his walk, and to sound the alarm if they do not allow him to enter.
"Let the world know that they are hiding their crimes by not allowing people that would bear witness," he wrote.
Ladraa, who was born to Jewish parents, gave up his job and studies to begin walking on Aug. 8 last year, after a three-week visit to Palestine opened his eyes to the human rights violations committed by Israel against those living in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Ladraa had a range of positive and negative experiences crossing 13 countries including Turkey on his way to Palestine, sometimes stopping to hold lectures. In Lebanon, he visited seven refugee camps where Palestinians have been living since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
He always carries the Palestinian flag on his back and a keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian independence, over his shoulder.
He sold everything he owned to fund the trip, and also receives donations from supporters.
