Tag: Welcome to Palestine

‘Welcome to Palestine’ group denied entry into West Bank

26 August, 2012 | Ma’an News, Bethlehem, West Bank

Dozens of foreign peace activists were denied entry into the West Bank by Israeli authorities at the Allenby Bridge crossing on Sunday evening, organizers of the third ‘Welcome to Palestine’ initiative said.

“The Welcome to Palestine Campaign decries the Israeli denial of entry via the Allenby Bridge to over 100 internationals who wanted to visit us in the occupied Palestinian Territories,” organizers said in a statement.

The group of around 100 activists had finished passport checks at the Jordanian side of the Allenby crossing but were denied entry at the first Israeli checkpoint and told to return to where they had come from, a spokesman for WTP told Ma’an.

No explanation was provided by Israeli crossing authorities as to why the group was denied entry, but the delegation will try to enter the West Bank again on Monday, the spokesman added.

“The denial of entry today at the Allenby Bridge border crossing from Jordan shows that the previous policies of siege and isolation continue,” organizers said.

“We thus will continue to initiate more Welcome to Palestine campaigns. We insist on the freedom of entry. As Israel persists in these unjust policies, it is only fair to ask all countries to reciprocate by denying Israelis entry to these countries.”

Since Friday, around 100 activists have arrived in Jordan, with the intention of crossing the Israeli-controlled border with the West Bank on Sunday.

The group included French, British, German and American supporters, campaigners told Ma’an.

Political figures were due to greet the delegation in Bethlehem and the group was then scheduled to spend five days visiting Jerusalem, refugee camps, the Negev and villages in Hebron that are struggling against Israel’s separation wall.

Welcome to Palestine had previously organized two “flytillas,” when foreigners stated their intention to visit Palestine on entry to Israeli airport Ben Gurion, drawing Israel to deny entry to many of the passengers and distribute blacklists to airlines.

‘Welcome to Palestine’: Israeli court challenges deportation orders

13 July 2011 | Welcome to Palestine

Bethlehem and Jerusalem, July 13, 2011. Court dates have been set for noon today and tomorrow at 9 am for the court challenges of “Welcome to Palestine” participants against the deportation orders of the Israeli government that they and their attorneys consider illegal. The hearings will take place at the Central District Courthouse in Petah Tikva.

The hearing at noon today concerns two Australians who flew from Athens to Ben Gurion airport yesterday to join the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative: Sylvia Hale, a retired member of the NSW Parliament and Green Party Member, and Vivienne Porzsolt, a member of Jews against the Occupation, both 69 years old had, been aboard the Freedom Flotilla II Free Gaza ship, the “MV Tahrir,” which the Greek government prevented from sailing to Gaza. Other members of Flotilla II have decided to come visit Palestine and contacted the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign, including the US activist Kathy Kelly. “We are now inundated with requests to visit Palestine which is the opposite of what the Israeli authorities had tried to do by their brutal denial of travel to a few hundred activists” said Mazin Qumsiyeh, one of the organizers and the campaign’s local media spokesperson.

Tomorrow at 9 am Angelica Seyfrid of Berlin, Germany, will challenge deportation orders. Ms. Seyfrid, an artist and translator, worked for many weeks to raise money for travel costs so that unemployed persons and students in Germany could join “Welcome to Palestine.” On July 8th, Ms. Seyfrid flew from Berlin to Tel Aviv with members of the German ,Austrian, French and Belgian delegations of “Welcome to Palestine.” All were immediately detained upon arrival to Ben Gurion airport and most were deported without opportunity of legal counsel. Members of the German and Austrian delegation were deported on Sunday, July 10th via Lufthansa Airlines, and on Monday, July 11th, via Australian Airlines respectively. According to the German Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Israeli authorities denied access to attorneys seeking to represent the incarcerated Germans.

“Israel denied the entry of Noam Chomsky because he wanted to have a talk with students from Nablus,” said Attorney Omer Shatz. “Israel denied the entry of Ivan Prado the famous clown just because he wished to make Ramahalla’s kids happy. Israel denied entry to anyone who wants to visit Palestine. Such a regime that doesn’t let people to visit millions of Palestinians living under oppressing military occupation for 44 years now.”

“Our hearts go out to Angelica, and we fully support her courageous refusal to accept the illegal Israeli deportation orders,” said Elsa Rassbach, a US citizen living in Berlin and member of CODEPINK and the German section of the War Resistors International, who helped organize the German delegation and is coordinating the international media for the initiative from Berlin. Together with members of the French and UK delegations to “Welcome to Palestine,” Ms. Rassbach visited Palestine during an earlier campaign of support during Christmas last year. However, the French activist, Olivia Zémor, was denied entry and deported during the same time.

While Israel succeeded in preventing hundreds of people from entering Palestine, many others did enter to join this week’s program of activities. Israeli forces have incarcerated at least two supporters, including a young man from Belgium who participated in yesterday’s peaceful attempt to enter the Palestinian villages of Beit Ommar (now off-limits due to Israeli colonial activities). Israelis also decided to join the activities and several were also arrested.

“The local organizers of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ campaign, while sad about the continuing attempts at isolation from the international community, are pleased that this episode of brutal Israeli assault removes one of the last illusions about ‘Israeli Democracy’,” said Dr. Qumsiyeh.

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Hole in the wall at Qalandia checkpoint

10 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On 9th July, a group of twenty Palestinians accompanied by twenty internationals, managed to cut through some fence near the checkpoint at Qalandia.

The direct action was organised by Welcome to Palestine as part of the Week of Action in the West Bank. The action was in defiance against the Apartheid Wall, which divides the West Bank and is central to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Activists were able to cut through the barbed wire fence and plant Palestinian flags on the other side.

Access denied to Nabi Saleh

10 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Saturday 9th July, seventy people – including thirty internationals from Sweden, France, Britain, Australia, Mexico, the United States and Denmark – demonstrated at a military checkpoint outside Nabi Saleh, after the army denied them entry into the village where Palestinians lead peaceful demonstrations weekly.

The demonstration was planned six months in advance by Welcome to Palestine, in order to kick off a week of action. The buses carrying demonstrators were attempting to enter the village of Nabi Saleh, but when people dismounted the buses and began walking towards the military checkpoint, Israeli soldiers responded with volleys of tear gas and sound bombs.

Thirty people managed to reach the checkpoint, with others being pushed back by clouds of tear gas and smoke from fires started by canisters. Soldiers pointed their weapons at the demonstrators and fired tear gas directly at individuals, as the unarmed protestors formed lines to chant ‘We are peaceful, what are you?’

Three Israeli activists were arrested, while one Palestinian boy was shot in the leg with a canister. Other demonstrators severely beaten by the soldiers.

The army only allowed the buses carrying demonstrators to leave with a military escort, which took them to Ramallah.

There are demonstrations every Friday in Nabi Saleh, where the Israeli military has a history of responding extremely violently and often invading the village.

WTP: Flytilla activists begin hunger strike in Israeli jail

10 July 2011 | Welcome to Palestine

Israeli authorities set stringent conditions for release of “Welcome to Palestine” prisoners

The large majority of international visitors are still incarcerated under brutal conditions, begin a hunger strike in Israeli jail

Bethlehem, July 10, 2011. Over 120 internationals attempting to visit Palestine are still being illegally detained — kidnapped — in two Israeli detention centers, in Ramle and in Beer Al-Saba’ (Beersheva). These friends of Palestine, among which there are minors and elderly persons with medical conditions, have been and are being mistreated and subjected to unnecessary brutality.

For example, Dr. Hikmat Al-Sabty, 57, of Rostock, Germany, is being denied needed medication that is in his suitcase; this was reported to his wife by the German Embassy in Tel Aviv, but his wife has not been allowed to speak with him directly. All of those detained have stated repeatedly that they are non-violent and want only to accept the invitation to visit together with Palestinian friends in the program ““>Welcome to Palestine.”

The Israeli authorities released two older German men from Bersheeva prison yesterday, but only on condition that they sign an Israeli legal document that was presented to them only in Hebrew and English. One of the two men came to Bethlehem. He is uncertain of the full contents of the Israeli paper he signed because his English is not good, and he was unable to first consult with his attorney in Israel before signing the paper: the Israeli authorities yesterday made attorney access to prisoners very difficult, and large number of those detained can only be seen by their attorneys today and tomorrow.

The German man now in Bethlehem believes that he has agreed in writing not to go to Ramallah, Jenin, and certain other Palestinian cities, but that the Israeli authorities have allowed that he to go to “tourist” areas in the West Bank. Because he is still uncertain of the full content of the Israeli document he signed, he prefers not to give his name at this time. The Israeli authorities refused, in violation of international law, to give him a copy of the paper he signed. His attorney is seeking to obtain a copy of the document he signed from the Israeli authorities.

We received a letter from the Belgian men in Bersheeva prison, who state that they began a hunger strike last night. In the letter, the Belgians demand, on behalf of all the prisoners, to have contact their families and with their attorneys. They demand an international investigation into the behavior of airline companies and Israeli officials. They also demand to be able to have contact with each other in the Israeli prison. For example, because the French and Belgian men and women are separated in the Bersheeva prison, the men do not know whether the women are also aware of the hunger strike. It is believed that the French men have joined the hunger strike. According to the Germans who were released from Bersheeva, the German men and women there are also participating in the hunger strike, but the men and women are not allowed to speak with each other.

Those few international guests who were able to reach Bethlehem on Friday were invited by their Palestinian hosts to go to either to a demonstration in Qalandia at noon or else to attend a gathering in Bilin at 11 am, from which they then joined Palestinian friends in Nabi Saleh. There Israeli soldiers prevented the bus-loads of passengers and local Palestinians and Israeli supporters from holding a peaceful demonstration. The Israeli forces shot stun grenades and at least two kinds of tear gas canisters at them. The nearby agricultural fields were set ablaze by these tear-gas canisters. The Israeli forces illegally detained — kidnapped — four peace activists, including three Israeli citizens and one Brazilian. Several participants were injured.

Events planned continued. Today, there was a gathering in Beit Sahour in front of the Greek Orthodox Church, an event at Aida Refugee Camp and an event in Al-Walaja.