600 Internationals to Challenge Israeli Blockade of West Bank on 8 July

6 July 2011, Alternative Information Center המרכז לאינפורמציה אלטרנטיבית
http://www.alternativenews.org (Israel)

Mark West

Approximately 600 European and American citizens, including numerous families with children, will land at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport this Friday, 8 July, in response to an impassioned 'call to action' by some 15 Palestinian civil society organizations.

Upon arrival, the activists will openly declare their wish to visit the occupied Palestinian territory and demand that Israel and the international community recognize the basic human right of entry to the occupied Palestinian territory.
Under the project title Welcome to Palestine, Mission from 8-16 July 2011, Palestinian civil society organisations have planned a week-long schedule of peaceful solidarity activities all throughout the West Bank, including a solidarity visit with the Al-Rowwad Centre of the Aïda refugee camp in Bethlehem, a tour of Hebron’s occupied and divided Old City and olive tree planting around Ramallah.

Insidiously dubbed 'the flightilla' by several Israeli media outlets, the planned solidarity visit is different from the thousands of visits by international solidarity activists since 2002 in only one respect: the plan to be open about the purpose of their visit with Israeli authorities, who control entry into the occupied Palestinian territory. Instead, the landmark event constitutes a unique international effort to promote the core idea that Israel and the international community "must recognize the basic human right of entering to Palestine by those who want to visit the Palestinian people". As such, the event falls within a wider framework of increasing non-violent popular resistance against Israeli oppression, including the Gaza flotillas and international BDS-movement, both aimed at the delegitimization and “denormalization” of the Israeli occupation and its control of Palestinian society.

Since the 1993 Oslo agreement, Israel has continuously tightened its hold on Palestinian and international movement in the oPt under the infinitely wide 'security'-umbrella. While the illegal limitations on Palestinian movement through legal constructs are widely documented, Israel has recently increased its attack on international human rights activists and tourists that want to enter the West Bank or Gaza – in particular those with Palestinian or Arab roots.

Through the use of 'Palestinian Authority Only' visas and the requirement for certain visiting internationals to sign a declaration stating they will not seek entry into the oPt under penalty of deportation and refusal of re-entry into Israel for up to ten years, the Israeli government aims to control and curtail international access to the Palestinian people.

"The Israeli government has no right to refuse us access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories," the French, Belgian, British, German, Italian and American participants write. "We are pacifists; we will have nothing dangerous in our bags. We call on our elected representatives and our governments, during the following months, 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."

In the face of the Israeli government’s hysterical reaction to the Welcome to Palestine Initiative, Palestinian Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh keeps his cool. "The week will continue as planned, no matter what happens," he told the Alternative Information Center. "In the unfortunate situation that all or some international participants are unable to enter, we will still continue our activities with hundreds of Palestinians."