Who was part of the flytilla?
The Guardian has a report on some of the people who were detained on Friday and Saturday in connection with the flytilla. The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which was co-ordinating the British arm of the visit, said its chairman Mick Napier, 64, a university teacher, was amongst four Scots arrested at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.
The flight also included five English and three Welsh people.
The campaign said the specific charges against them is still unclear. Around 700 people from around the world had intended to visit Bethlehem on the invitation of families there.
Sofiah Macleod, the UK-based contact for the campaign, said: "I spoke to consular staff this morning who told me that the arrest was quite rough. They were all handcuffed and shackled and put into vans after standing around for quite a long time, and you can see from their ages that a lot of them are retired. Otherwise they`re all fine."
She said that travel to the West Bank is theoretically open to British passport holders, unlike Gaza which is currently under Israeli blockade.
What were they expecting? A trip to a country club? They knew when the came here that Israel would attempt to find, arrest and deport them. It's a pity they're not sitting in the heat in Ketziot where we hold terrorists.By the way, go back and look at the videos I posted on Friday. Those don't look like old people, do they?
But that's just the British nationals. Israel Radio reported on Sunday morning (5:00 am) that 80% of those arrested are French nationals. Isn't it amazing that the gutless French are willing to come to Israel to protest?
Labels: flytilla, France, Palestinian fly-in
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:31 AM
4 Comments:
Hi Carl.
Can't verify the truth but one Belgium Sunday paper claims that 40 Belgium activists are being held in detention centras in Tel aviv and Beersheva and are protesting their removal from the Israeli territory ,only two of the forty agreed and are on their way back to belgium.
One word about the French: Vichy.
Israel is not required to admit every one! The cooperation of other countries in not allowing banned nationals to travel to Israel simply reflects this fact of life. As a sovereign state, Israel is damned well entitled to decide who gets to enter its territory. And that won't change even if a Palestinian reichlet ever does come into existence one day!
Perhaps the unwanted visitors should be charged for the cost of Israeli detainment hospitality? Or maybe desired visitors could be induced to return home later (freeing up airline seats) by a financial consideration amounting to less than the cost of detaining the activists?
I do not see why the Israeli government should subsidize these people.
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