- 29 mrt 2012
Pro-Palestinian activists to hold second 'fly-in'
Pro-Palestinian activists plan to hold their second fly-in to Ben-Gurion International Airport just after Passover at staggered times on April 15 and 16.
According to one of the organizers, Mazin Qumsiyeh of Bethlehem, anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 participants, ages 9 to 90, from 15 countries are expected to land in Israel on that day.
If they are allowed to enter the country, they will participate in a week of educational and volunteer activities in the West Bank, Qumsiyeh said.
Last summer in an event labeled “Welcome to Palestine”activists also tried to board planes and land in Ben-Gurion in solidarity with the Palestinians and to protest Israel’s policy of banning such foreign activists.
Some 124 activists were detained upon arrival in Israel and deported. Hundreds more were barred, mostly in Europe, from getting on airplanes to Ben-Gurion after Israel passed on their names to the airlines.
“The point is to show the world that Israel is preventing people from visiting Palestine,” said Qumsiyeh who is a professor at Bethlehem University.
“By entering Palestine through Ben-Gurion airport, hundreds of people over 48 hours will send a message that we want Israel to recognize the basic human right ... of those who want to visit us,” he said.
“We call on our elected representatives and our government to ensure that we shall be normally and properly treated on our arrival in Ben- Gurion airport, as are Israeli citizens when they come to our countries,” he said.
On Tuesday Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that Israel was working with other governments and foreign airlines to identify activists and stop them from boarding planes.
But Qumsiyeh told The Jerusalem Post that after last summer’s event, judges in France and Germany told the airlines they could not collectively bar people from boarding planes.
“I think that this year they will be able to get on the planes,” he said. “The question is, what will Israel do when they land,” he said.
“I think that Israel should just let them in. They are not coming to protest. They are coming to see the situation for themselves and to experience what Palestinians experience,” he said.
http://fwd4.me/0xNo 4 apr 2012, 10:02 , Respect -
France warns pro-Palestinian activists against West Bank trip
By Pauline Mevel and Alexandria Sage
France urged pro-Palestinian activists, who plan to visit Bethlehem this month in solidarity for residents of the occupied West Bank, to avoid joining the operation given there was a high risk of being detained or turned back by Israeli authorities.
About 1,200 Palestinian supporters throughout Europe have bought plane tickets for the visit on April 15 to help open an international school and a museum at the request of a local organisation called "Welcome to Palestine".
A similar, though smaller, operation last year led to a few hundred activists being blocked at European airports.
Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said on Monday that while Paris wanted foreigners to travel freely to the West Bank, Israel had made it clear it would not allow anybody who threatened public order to enter the country.
"France is concerned by the risk of incidents ... as part of 'Welcome to Palestine' operation" he said. "For this reason, we advise our citizens to not take part in this initiative given the risk of being turned away or being detained."
The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since a war in 1967. Some 2.5 million Palestinians and about 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinians, who want to create their own state together with the Gaza Strip, object to illegal Jewish settlements, trade restrictions and scant water supply, and their limited autonomy.
"Our goal is to show, unlike our politicians, there are women and men and many people in the world that are upset about this situation, that care about Palestinians," Olivia Zemor, coordinator of the French contingent, told Reuters.
"We are coming to show the world we are not prepared to give up human rights and international law," added Zemor. (Additional reporting by John Irish; Editing by Alison Williams)
http://fwd4.me/0xm0 10 apr 2012, 10:20 , Respect -
10 apr 2012
Israel Prepares for Confronting “Flytilla”
Israel has begun its preparations for the fly in of hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists expected to arrive at Ben Gurion airport in the occupied territories this weekend with the solidarity campaign “Welcome to Palestine”.
"We have made arrangements and are prepared for this operation, which is expected to begin from Sunday," Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
For his part, Israel's Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch supervised Monday a meeting for the security forces that will be in charge of the operation at Ben Gurion, including airport authorities, immigration officials and police.
"No provocation will be tolerated," Israeli media quoted him telling his forces.
“As any other country would do, Israel will stop hostile elements from entering its territory,” he added.
The "Welcome to Palestine" campaign, also known as "flytilla," is taking place for the third year, and includes hundreds of activists mainly from European countries.
According to AFP, “Israeli media said security forces estimate some 2,500 activists will try to arrive at Ben Gurion.”
http://fwd4.me/0y9d - 12 apr 2012
Israeli Group calls on Government to Welcome Fly-In Activists
An Israeli peace group Thursday called on the Israeli government not to stop international activists who plan to fly into Tel Aviv airport next week to demonstrate their support for the Palestinians.
Under the slogan, “Welcome to Palestine,” some 1000 activists are planning to fly into Israel starting Sunday in order to demonstrate their support for the Palestinian people and to show that Israel does not allow free access and movement for the Palestinian people under its occupation.
Gush Shalom, the Israeli peace bloc, called in a letter to Israeli Minister of Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch to cancel plans for flooding Tel Aviv airport with a massive police force in preparation for the arrival of the international activists.
“More than a 1000 international activists are due to arrive, among them aged persons, parents with their children and handicapped people in wheelchairs. They have no intention of carrying out any provocation, and there is no need to mobilize massive police forces. All that is needed is to say the word ‘welcome’ and perhaps also give a flower,” said the group.
“It is sad to note, Mr. Minister, that you - as well as the commanders of the police force for which you bear responsibility - have learned nothing from the events of the previous fly-in,” said the letter.
Gush Shalom insisted that the group, which is going to declare openly and explicitly that they are coming to visit the West Bank at the invitation of various Palestinian civil society organizations and to participate in laying the foundations of a new elementary school in Bethlehem, to plant fruit trees, rehabilitate wells at villages in the area, and inaugurate a museum, have “no intention of causing any incident at the airport.”
It said “the mighty police mobilization is completely unnecessary and a total waste of the taxpayers' money,” adding that “all that is needed is instruct the passport control officials to answer each and every one of the visitors with the word ‘Welcome.’ At a small fraction of the cost of the planned police operation, it would be possible to give each of the visitors a pretty flower on behalf of the State of Israel.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19541
25 apr 2012, 01:02 , Respect -
Maria 15 apr 2012
Exclusive: ‘Political contract’ required to enter Israel?
A Swedish tourist trying to enter Israel was made to sign a “contract” promising she won’t get in touch with “pro-Palestinian” organisations, and acknowledging she’ll get deported if she “gets caught doing even one of these things.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Office released a letter that will be handed to deported Flytilla activists: Go to Syria.
This is a “contract” that a Swedish citizen was required to sign upon entering Israel via the Eilat land crossing:
Please, stop snickering at the “nine-tens,” the “passport,” and the bizarre grammatical construct in the first sentence. This is quite serious. The person in question told +972:
I’ve been in East Jerusalem on and off for six months now, visiting friends. Since I am here on a tourist visa, I have to leave the country every three months and renew my visa at the border. No problem, until this time when me and a friend made an Easter trip to Jordan and planned to get a new visa stamp in my passport on our way back. I’ll go back to Sweden next week again, so I just need a visa for my last days here.
When we got to the Israeli section of the border crossing – that one between Aqaba and Eilat – we were asked to sit down and wait a moment while they kept my passport. Then I was invited into an office and was questioned about my religion, if I had contact with any religious organizations here, what I do during the day, how much money I have got to spend and where I got it, what I do in Sweden and so on. Then we had to wait again, not knowing what would happen.
After 4 hours and 20 minutes, I was asked to sign this contract and got back my passport with visa stamp in which the expiration date (normally three months later) was corrected to April 19, which is when I have my plane ticket home. Then we could finally enter Israel again.
They retained the original “contract” at the border control, and mine is only a copy. I don’t know what consequences I could expect if I would break it. Personally, I am pleased that I was let in and can spend one last week in Jerusalem. I am five months pregnant and hardly look like any security risk. As far as I know, I haven’t done anything illegal during my stay here.
When reached for comment by my colleague Haggai Matar, Population and Immigration Authority spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said: “The purpose behind the document was to make sure the lady doesn’t visit friction areas. Nevertheless, we intend to check the issue and the document itself.”
Considering the inane phrasing, spelling errors and the fact the entire letter was custom-printed for the woman personally (as opposed to a form where her departure date would have been written in), I’ll go on to venture a highly charitable guess this is the local initiative of staff at this particular crossing, rather than a policy.
The initiative might actually belong to the very same “Meital Yahud”, who appears as the other signatory to the contract and might be anxious to have an alibi (a rather weak one, mind you) in case the person she let in goes on to do something as dangerous, as, um, speak the word “Palestine”, or something. It’s still morbidly fascinating to see the Flytilla getting our authorities to make themselves look like complete buffoons even before a single activist actually boarded a plane.
And as if to vindicate that last sentence, Netanyahu’s spokesman Ofir Gendelman tweeted the official letter Flytilla activists will be handed on arrival. The grammar is a little better. The content – judge for yourselves.
…Going back to the political “contract” document, immigration and human rights lawyer Yadin Elam told +972:
“This is the first time I have seen such a form but as someone who deals with the Ministry Of Interior on a daily basis, nothing can surprise me anymore. Legally, she is very fortunate that it is written so badly. If she “cannot” be a member of a pro-Palestinian organization then I guess she is not…”
As for the question of responsibility, Elam suggests:
…it does seems like a private initiative of a low-level clerk at the Ministry of the Interior but one should be worried why a low-level clerk has the powers to make such decisions. We all remember that Israel blamed immigration officials for the decision to deny entry to Noam Chomsky nearly two years ago. Would it be too much to hope that after such a mistake, the ministry would make sure that private initiatives would not take place? and if the didn’t, can we still call it a private initiative?
http://www.imemc.org/article/63312
Israeli police arrest four pro-Palestinian activists at airport
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli police arrested four pro-Palestinian foreign activists at the Ben Gurion airport for participating in the “Welcome to Palestine” event.
A police spokesman said that the four arrived from Paris aboard El Al flight as part of the "Welcome to Palestine" fly-in protest.
He said that they would be questioned then deported back to their countries.
Around 1500 activists are expected to share in the fly-in protest on the third year of its launching including 500 to 600 French nationals who would be travelling to Bethlehem to attend the inauguration of an international school.
International pro-Palestinian groups have announced on websites that they would fly to the Ben Gurion airport then to the West Bank as of mid-April as a show of solidarity with the Palestinians and to protest Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian land.
Hundreds of Israeli policemen were deployed in the airport in anticipation of the arrival of those activists, the Israeli radio said, adding that the activists would be arrested and deported.
http://fwd4.me/0yUX
Air France cancels tickets for participants in "Welcome to Palestine" event
PARIS, (PIC)-- "Air France" company announced, on Saturday, that it has canceled tickets of activists supporting the Palestinian cause and who were supposed to depart, on Sunday, to the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 from the airports of Roissy - Charles de Gaulle near Paris and of Nice, to participate in "Welcome to Palestine” event.
A spokeswoman for the company said "under the Treaty of Chicago, Air France refuses to transport any passenger who are not welcome in Israel," adding that the Israelis gave them a list of the "unwelcome" passengers' names.
1,500 activists were supposed to participate in the "Welcome to Palestine" event, including 500 to 600 French activists who will go towards Bethlehem to launch an international school. The activists, who are coming from several airports in Europe, Canada and the United States, have to use the "Lod Airport" in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Yet, the occupation authorities announced that it will confront this process by denying them entry if they fail to stop from boarding aircraft in first place by providing the lists of undesirable passengers' names to the airlines.
Lufthansa the German company has canceled on Friday tickets dozens of activists in solidarity with the Palestinians who were traveling to the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 to participate on Sunday in the event.
Besides, the UK airline Jet2.com announced on Saturday that it has canceled tickets of many passengers heading for an assembly in the occupied Palestinian territories.
http://fwd4.me/0yUW
Zoabi: “Israel Violates Freedoms At A Global Level”
Arab member of Knesset, Hanin Zoabi, stated that Israeli pressures and threats against nonviolent solidarity activists, the Welcome To Palestine campaign, in addition to the German and British cancellation of airline tickets that belong to several activists due to Israeli pressure, are clear indications that Israel considers itself above the law, and gives itself the right to violate international freedoms.
She added that by cancelling the tickets, Germany and Britain are violating the basic rights of their own citizens, especially their right to travel.
“Israel’s long arm is now openly targeting basic human rights, it did not hesitate in attacking its own citizens, Arabs and Jews”, Zoabi stated, “What happened in Europe should be of concern to the International Community; Israel’s policies are now a threat to everyone”.
Zoabi, a member of the Israeli Knesset, strongly denounced the Israeli claims that the peace activists “violated it laws”, and added that the activists are peacefully struggling against injustice, racism, and Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.
She said that “the pathetic Israeli attempts will not deter the peace activists from continuing their legitimate peaceful struggle in support of the Palestinians living under illegal Israeli occupation.
The MK also said that Israel’s paranoia is a clear indication of the effectiveness of international campaigns conducted in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and that “Israel might have succeeded in preventing several activists from entering the country, but its illegal action sheds a light on its true face as a bitter state that fights against nonviolent resistance by all means.
She affirmed that all solidarity campaigns will continue, and will continue to expose Israel’s illegal policies.
“This is what will lead to an increased international solidarity with the Palestinian people” Zoabi concluded, “Israel will never be able to stop these waves of solidarity, it will stand isolated amidst increasing international support to the legitimate Palestinian rights”.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63310
25 apr 2012, 01:03 , Respect -
Maria 16 apr 2012
Israel blocks entry of 80 foreign solidarity activists
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli authorities blocked the entry of 80 foreign solidarity activists, who were supposed to visit the West Bank in solidarity with the Palestinian people, on Monday.
A spokesperson for the Israeli police said that 78 solidarity activists were detained at Ben Gurion airport including
51 French nationals,
11 Britons,
6 Italians,
5 Canadians,
2 Spaniards, and
1 from each of the USA,
1 Switzerland, and
1 Portugal.
She said that 18 voluntarily returned to their places of departure while the others were taken to two detention centers in preparation for their forced deportation.
Many of 1500 foreign solidarity activists, who were planning to fly into Israel en route to the West Bank, were barred from boarding their planes after western airlines bowed to Israeli pressures and refused to allow them to fly to Ben Gurion airport to attend the “Welcome to Palestine” event.
http://fwd4.me/0yYv
Barhoum: Arrest of foreign activists reflects Israeli crisis
GAZA, (PIC)-- Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, has described as shameful the Israeli authorities’ arrest of foreign activists on their arrival at Ben Gurion airport.
He said in a statement to the PIC on Sunday that the Israeli step reflects an internal crisis within that “entity” as a result of the growing solidarity campaigns with the Palestinian people.
He charged that such practices were meant to contain the international sympathy with the Palestinian people and cause.
The spokesman said that Israel’s international isolation was on the rise, pointing to the issuance of more than one report condemning Tel Aviv for grave crimes against humanity.
The Israeli authorities detained nine foreign activists on arrival at Ben Gurion airport on Sunday morning, released three of them later and deported the other six.
Hundreds of foreign activists planned to travel to the West Bank in solidarity with the Palestinian people via Israeli airports within the annual “Welcome to Palestine” event.
The Israeli authorities feverishly contacted western countries and airlines warning them against carrying those activists. Some of those airlines bowed to pressures and blocked travel of many of them.
http://fwd4.me/0yVx
470 Of Passengers Marked As Activists, Had Nothing To Do With “Welcome To Palestine”
Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that 470 of the 1200 persons that Israel labeled as “pro-Palestinian”, part of the Welcome To Palestinian Flytilla, were not activists, two of them were a French diplomat and his wife.
Haaretz said that %40 of those marked as part of the Flytilla were just added to the blacklist of the Shin Bet intelligence agency without any proof that they were connected in any way to the Welcome To Palestine campaign.
The paper said that the latest information was provided by a senior Israeli source, and that the Israeli Shin Bet did not have solid grounds that the 470 internationals intended to do anything that violates Israeli laws.
The source said that Israel placed names on the list despite the fact that they have nothing to do with any “anti-Israel” activity, adding that Israel just offended hundreds of foreign nationals due to unfounded suspicions, adding that this act “gave the other side a victory in a silver platter”, Haaretz reported.
Despite Israeli claims, and unfounded accusations, the Flytilla activists intended to head directly to the West Bank, starting in Bethlehem, to express solidarity and support to the internationally-guaranteed rights of the Palestinian people living under illegal Israeli military occupation.
A French activist told Haaretz that Israel’s security forces and the security forces in France treated her, and the other nonviolent activists, as criminals, adding that France just fell for Israel’s propaganda.
An official at the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the list of banned names was expanded over the weekend, an issue that made it easy for tourists to be labeled as activists.
Yet, Haaretz said that a French diplomat and his wife were preparing to fly to Tel Aviv as they were supposed to work at the French embassy this summer, but Lufthansa German Airways cancelled their tickets, similar to dozens of tickets that were cancelled due to Israeli pressures.
The diplomat and his wife intended to look for an apartment and settle in before they start work in the summer.
Lufthansa sent them an email telling them that their tickets have been canceled due to the fact that they are banned from entering Israel.
Lufthansa was not the only airlines that surrendered to Israeli pressures to void tickets of dozens of hundreds of passengers as 20 airlines, most of them based in E.U. countries, received direct threats from Israel to impose sanctions on them should they allow the activists to fly.
Several Israelis, including an Arab-Israeli woman, were also prevented from flying as their names were blacklisted by the Israeli intelligence.
Israel placed the names of 730 persons on its initial blacklist claiming that they are flying to the country to participate in protests; they were banned from entering the country.
Another 270 persons, believed to be part of nonviolent protests, were not only blacklisted, but were also banned from entering the country for 10 years.
According to the Israeli Police, many of the foreign nationals have been previously arrested by the Israeli army during protests in the West Bank, and that their names were found online connected to several pro-Palestine groups, Haaretz said.
It is worth mentioning that Israeli peace activists were arrested by the police for protesting in solidarity with the Welcome To Palestine campaign. Israel deployed more than 650 policemen at the Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv.
http://fwd4.me/0yVG
(2:47) Gaza 'Flytilla' activists arrested for chanting 'Free Palestine' in Tel Aviv airport
25 apr 2012, 01:04 , Respect -
Maria 19 apr 2012
Foreign activists go on hunger strike in Israeli custody
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Foreign solidarity activists held in custody by the Israeli authorities have gone on hunger strike to protest their detention and planned deportation, a Palestinian human rights group said.
Dameer foundation for human rights said in a statement on Wednesday that its lawyers visited Ramle prison where the activists were detained and met with eight British nationals.
The activists said that they were detained on arrival at Lod airport, subjected to strip search, and had their personal belongings confiscated.
They said that they were interrogated separately and banned from phone calls as a punishment for their hunger strike that started on their first day of detention.
The activists said they were handed an order not to enter Palestinian land and an order for their possible deportation.
Dameer urged the world community to pressure Israel into allowing foreign activists to visit Palestinian land at will to display their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Dozens of foreign activists were detained at the Lod airport and banned from entry to visit the West Bank as part of the “Welcome to Palestine” event.
http://fwd4.me/0ynk
25 apr 2012, 01:04 , Respect -
Maria 21 apr 2012
Israel deports last 10 foreign activists
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli authorities deported the last ten foreign solidarity activists who arrived in Lod airport as part of the “Welcome to Palestine” event.
A spokesperson for the Israeli immigration said that the last ten activists were French women and were deported back to France on Friday.
Less than 100 foreign activists managed to arrive at the Israeli airport en route to the West Bank while the original number was supposed to reach 1500, but the Israeli pressures on western airlines led to the cancellation of the tickets of many of those activists.
http://fwd4.me/0yxg 25 apr 2012, 01:04 , Respect -
Maria 22 apr 2012
"Welcome to Palestine" organizers decide to organize another broad campaign
BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- "Welcome to Palestine" organizers announced to organize a wider campaign, late August, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and as a response to the Zionist arrogance against the international activists.
The organizers, about 23 Palestinian institutions and 15 international activists, have agreed, in a meeting held in the "Peace Center" headquarter, to organize a similar campaign on 23rd August, calling thousands of activists around the world to participate it.
The Palestinian organizers had regulated a tour to the activists, who succeeded to reach the occupied territories, to many Palestinian cities and areas and to the Zionist racist Wall in addition to the occupied Jerusalem where they briefed the Zionist violations, settlers' attacks on Palestinians and their properties, and the Judaization process.
The occupation authorities arrested early last week, dozens of international activists, who tried to reach Palestine through Lod Airport, coming from several European countries, before they expel them.
http://fwd4.me/0z1i