ktlight
8th July 2011, 07:20
FYI:
July 6, 2011
Despite threats from Israeli security, hundreds of Palestinian solidarity activists plan to fly into Tel Aviv's airport.
This Friday, July 8, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists are planning to fly to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport in a display of solidarity with Palestinians living in the occupied territories.
According to organisers, at least 500 people have already scheduled flights to Israel, including Palestinians that will fly from Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa.
The "fly in", as organisers are referring to the action, will bring protesters to Tel Aviv where they will all arrive within a two-hour period. At least fifteen organisations are involved in the event which is timed to coincide with peaceful demonstrations and actions within the occupied territories that have been set up by Palestinians. The travellers plan to travel from the airport to the West Bank, a move that would challenge the long-standing Israeli government policy that has forbidden such movement.
"The goal is very clear, we are all fed up with being obliged to lie when we arrive in Allenby [bridge] or Ben Gurion [Airport] when visiting our Palestinian friends," Mireille Rumeau, an organiser with the International Solidarity Movement in Paris told Al Jazeera.
"We are fed up with lying about being tourists, or coming for a pilgrimage. Now, they are all going to say: 'we are coming to visit our Palestinian friends that have invited us.' If they get through, there are events planned for Palestinian groups for us to take part in, as we were invited by them six months ago, and we are answering their call."
Rumeau said that approximately 350 of the participants that already have their tickets are from France, and others are flying from Italy, Belgium, and Germany. She also hopes the action will bring attention to the lack of Palestinians' ability to move freely, and that, as the sea flotilla aimed to bring attention to the Israeli naval blockade, this action will highlight how Israel also bars air access to the occupied Palestinian territories.
The 'hooligans' are coming
Mazin Qumsiyeh is the international media spokesperson for the Welcome to Palestine Campaign in the West Bank. He spoke with Al Jazeera about the upcoming "fly in" and how it was connected to events his group is coordinating in the occupied territories.
"The purpose is to bring internationals to join us and show solidarity in actions we're doing anyway," Qumsiyeh told Al Jazeera. "We ask internationals to come, the only difference from previous actions of solidarity is that these people have decided among themselves to come all on the same day to the airport and they are not going to tell the Israelis they are tourists, but they are coming in solidarity with the Palestinian people."
On July 5, Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch called the activists "hooligans" and said they would be barred entry.
"These hooligans who try to break our laws will not be allowed into the country and will be returned immediately to their home countries," he said.
In his first interview as Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Yohanan Denino said that his forces "will use all the legal means in our hands, and we have many", to stop the activists from proceeding with their plan to protest at Ben Gurion airport or to travel to the West Bank.
Israeli media has reported that flights landing on July 8 from Europe will be taken to a separate terminal and all of the passengers carefully screened.
Rumeau, whose group has been active in organising weekly protests against the West Bank security fence at Bil'in, as well as being involved with the Free Gaza Movement behind the flotillas of 2010 and 2011, said she does not know what Israeli security officials will do with the hundreds of activists who arrive at the airport.
"We don't know what we will do, as we don't expect them [Israeli security] to let people leave the tarmac," she said. "They cannot allow 500 people to enter the small airport at Tel Aviv. We suppose they might stop the people from leaving the planes, and checking at that time who is going to Palestine and who is not. The other scenario is they put people in buses and take them to detention."
Qumsiyeh also does not know what the activists might expect from Israeli security forces.
"We can't predict what the Israeli authorities will do, but what they've done to individuals who have been honest about their goal of visiting Palestine is they have been interrogated for many hours, and possibly deported," he said.
Qumsiyeh hopes that Israeli authorities will "do the right and legal thing and let these people through".
"British citizens arriving at Ben-Gurion should be treated as Israelis are treated at Heathrow," he added. "They should not be interrogated and deported, just like if Israelis who are going to visit minorities in London would not be interrogated and deported. It's the right and legal course of action."
source to read more
http://uruknet.info/?p=m79319&hd=&size=1&l=e
July 6, 2011
Despite threats from Israeli security, hundreds of Palestinian solidarity activists plan to fly into Tel Aviv's airport.
This Friday, July 8, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists are planning to fly to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport in a display of solidarity with Palestinians living in the occupied territories.
According to organisers, at least 500 people have already scheduled flights to Israel, including Palestinians that will fly from Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa.
The "fly in", as organisers are referring to the action, will bring protesters to Tel Aviv where they will all arrive within a two-hour period. At least fifteen organisations are involved in the event which is timed to coincide with peaceful demonstrations and actions within the occupied territories that have been set up by Palestinians. The travellers plan to travel from the airport to the West Bank, a move that would challenge the long-standing Israeli government policy that has forbidden such movement.
"The goal is very clear, we are all fed up with being obliged to lie when we arrive in Allenby [bridge] or Ben Gurion [Airport] when visiting our Palestinian friends," Mireille Rumeau, an organiser with the International Solidarity Movement in Paris told Al Jazeera.
"We are fed up with lying about being tourists, or coming for a pilgrimage. Now, they are all going to say: 'we are coming to visit our Palestinian friends that have invited us.' If they get through, there are events planned for Palestinian groups for us to take part in, as we were invited by them six months ago, and we are answering their call."
Rumeau said that approximately 350 of the participants that already have their tickets are from France, and others are flying from Italy, Belgium, and Germany. She also hopes the action will bring attention to the lack of Palestinians' ability to move freely, and that, as the sea flotilla aimed to bring attention to the Israeli naval blockade, this action will highlight how Israel also bars air access to the occupied Palestinian territories.
The 'hooligans' are coming
Mazin Qumsiyeh is the international media spokesperson for the Welcome to Palestine Campaign in the West Bank. He spoke with Al Jazeera about the upcoming "fly in" and how it was connected to events his group is coordinating in the occupied territories.
"The purpose is to bring internationals to join us and show solidarity in actions we're doing anyway," Qumsiyeh told Al Jazeera. "We ask internationals to come, the only difference from previous actions of solidarity is that these people have decided among themselves to come all on the same day to the airport and they are not going to tell the Israelis they are tourists, but they are coming in solidarity with the Palestinian people."
On July 5, Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch called the activists "hooligans" and said they would be barred entry.
"These hooligans who try to break our laws will not be allowed into the country and will be returned immediately to their home countries," he said.
In his first interview as Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Yohanan Denino said that his forces "will use all the legal means in our hands, and we have many", to stop the activists from proceeding with their plan to protest at Ben Gurion airport or to travel to the West Bank.
Israeli media has reported that flights landing on July 8 from Europe will be taken to a separate terminal and all of the passengers carefully screened.
Rumeau, whose group has been active in organising weekly protests against the West Bank security fence at Bil'in, as well as being involved with the Free Gaza Movement behind the flotillas of 2010 and 2011, said she does not know what Israeli security officials will do with the hundreds of activists who arrive at the airport.
"We don't know what we will do, as we don't expect them [Israeli security] to let people leave the tarmac," she said. "They cannot allow 500 people to enter the small airport at Tel Aviv. We suppose they might stop the people from leaving the planes, and checking at that time who is going to Palestine and who is not. The other scenario is they put people in buses and take them to detention."
Qumsiyeh also does not know what the activists might expect from Israeli security forces.
"We can't predict what the Israeli authorities will do, but what they've done to individuals who have been honest about their goal of visiting Palestine is they have been interrogated for many hours, and possibly deported," he said.
Qumsiyeh hopes that Israeli authorities will "do the right and legal thing and let these people through".
"British citizens arriving at Ben-Gurion should be treated as Israelis are treated at Heathrow," he added. "They should not be interrogated and deported, just like if Israelis who are going to visit minorities in London would not be interrogated and deported. It's the right and legal course of action."
source to read more
http://uruknet.info/?p=m79319&hd=&size=1&l=e