Israel and airlines block hundreds from Welcome to Palestine

Hundreds of activists were prevented from boarding flights to Israel and an estimated 43 were arrested or deported upon arrival at Tel Aviv's airport on Sunday because they declared their attentions of going to the Palestinian territories.

Reuters/Sebastien Pirlet

For the second consecutive year, the Welcome to Palestine event invited people to come to Palestine and state honestly their intention when arriving at Ben Gurion airport. Between 1,500-2,000 activists were expected to attend, in order to highlight the difficulty in visiting the West Bank even for tourism.

Israel on Monday said it had stopped 79 activists at the airport and that 21 had been deported.

Among those refusing deportation were 43 French nationals, eight Britons, two Italians, three Canadians, one Spanish national and one person from the US.

Airlines refused to allow at least 300 people to take flights to go to the Palestinian territories.

It is estimated that 60 per cent of would-be participants were prevented from boarding their flights in airports across Europe, America, Australia and Canada.

Several dozen staged a demonstration at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on being refused the right to take their flights.

By Sunday evening just three activists had reached Bethlehem.

Israeli authorities were on high alert prior to the event, issuing a blacklist to airlines such as Lufthansa, Jet2 and Easyjet, resulting in large numbers of activists having their tickets cancelled pre-emptively.

One of the three successful arrivals, Tamia from Lyon, told a press conference in Bethlehem on Sunday why the group decided to come.

“I don’t think it’s right that Palestinians aren’t allowed to have visitors," she said. "We’re not criminals … we’re students, we’re kids.”

Six-hundred and 50 police were deployed to Ben Gurion airport to prevent Israeli activists from gathering to greet any arrivals. An estimated 11 Israelis were arrested inside the terminal.

Israel claimed that the activists were “radicals” intent on delegitimising Israel, but organisers insisted Sunday that their intentions were simply to visit Palestine for a week of tourism and humanitarian events.

Abdel Fattah Abu Srour, a coordinator and spokesman for Welcome to Palestine told the press on Sunday that Israel’s reaction to the event helped their cause:

“What they are doing is a big gift to us in denying entry to other people, and saying to them that you are not allowed to be truthful, and what is now the image of these Israelis,” he said.