Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
200 activists blocked from Israel flights: police
|
Edition:
U.S.
Article
Comments (1)
Full Focus
Editor's choice
A selection of our top photos from the past 24 hours. Full Article
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Jobs stall, setting back recovery hopes
11:48am EDT
Internet providers to act against online pirates
07 Jul 2011
China warns U.S. officials not to meet Dalai Lama
07 Jul 2011
Fans, stars, Hollywood say farewell to Harry Potter
5:06am EDT
New "win a baby" game draws fire
07 Jul 2011
Discussed
210
Minnesota government shutdown begins after talks fail
133
Obama: ending tax breaks required to cut deficit
99
Jury resumes deliberations in Casey Anthony murder trial
Watched
Mobile harbor delivers the goods for container ships at sea
Wed, Jul 6 2011
A Tokyo-Paris flight in under three hours on the horizon
Fri, Jun 24 2011
Skyping on Facebook
Wed, Jul 6 2011
200 activists blocked from Israel flights: police
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Holocaust history helps Netanyahu's Balkan engagement
6:26am EDT
Greece stops Gaza-bound boat, immobilizes flotilla
Thu, Jul 7 2011
Analysis: Gaza flotilla a foretaste of future diplomatic furor
Tue, Jul 5 2011
Greece confines Gaza flotilla, frees U.S. captain
Tue, Jul 5 2011
Thousands protest police probe of rabbis for incitement
Mon, Jul 4 2011
Analysis & Opinion
Israeli military enlisting frontline rabbis, critic warns creating against “God’s army”
Israel targets top rabbis for anti-Arab incitement backing “King’s Doctrine”
Related Topics
World »
Israel »
By Na'ama Shilony
BEN-GURION AIRPORT, Israel |
Fri Jul 8, 2011 6:41am EDT
BEN-GURION AIRPORT, Israel (Reuters) - Some 200 pro-Palestinian activists have been barred from leaving foreign airports for Israel, where authorities are poised to deport others who manage to fly in, Israeli police said on Friday.
After Greece grounded a flotilla that tried to sail in contravention of the Gaza Strip blockade this month, international protesters mobilized to flock to Ben-Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, in a challenge to Israel's curbs on accessing the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced them as provocateurs. His government ordered a crackdown, citing concern for public order at Israel's main gateway to the world, or that the foreigners would reinforce Palestinian demonstrations.
Travelers affected by the ban expressed outrage.
"I am absolutely shocked that it is even possible that I am being blacklisted without any evidence that I have done anything at all," one thwarted traveler, Cynthia Beat, told Reuters.
"Apparently, it is sufficient to state that you would like to go to Palestine, to spend time with Palestinians, in order to be banned from Israel," she said, speaking in Berlin.
Palestinian supporters say Ben-Gurion is the easiest access point for the West Bank, which is 10 km (6 miles) away and has no airport of its own. They condemn the expulsions from Israel as an abuse of power.
According to Israel's biggest newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the government issued European airlines with a list of 342 suspected activists who would be turned back at Ben-Gurion, with the carriers expected to bear the cost of returning them.
"What we can confirm is that there have been approximately 200 people that have not gotten on the airplanes overseas," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
"That's due to the fact ... that the international companies that are flying out realized that those individuals would have to fly back and won't be allowed inside Israel and therefore financially it was not worth them taking the risk."
Two American women who flew in overnight were detained on grounds of "security problems" and deported, Rosenfeld said.
"These types of people try to come in throughout the year and if necessary they are turned back, and that is a standard procedure," he said.
In French and German airports, scores of pro-Palestinian activists said they had been kept off their flights to Israel.
SHOCK, BUT SATISFACTION TOO
Palestinian organizer Mazen Qumsieh said some would-be visitors would give themselves away by naming "Palestine" as their destination rather than telling Israeli immigration officers they were pilgrims to the Holy Land, as many Travelers do.
"We did not request that they do that," Qumsieh said. He added that he was satisfied with the publicity over the crackdown.
Mick Napier, a member of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said he intended to risk being detained at Ben-Gurion.
"I think your prime minister, Netanyahu, is kind of really over the top in suggesting that peaceful visitors flying in to the airport and then taking the bus to (the West Bank city of) Bethlehem was in some way a threat to the security of the state," he told Israel's Army Radio by telephone.
"You can win the battle and lose the war here."
Apparently unaffected by the beefed-up police deployment in Ben-Gurion, Israeli counter-demonstrator Michelle Marshalian held a sign urging protesters to go instead to Syria, Libya and other Arab states roiled by revolts against autocratic regimes.
"I think it is very hypocritical that so many people are activists against Israel," Marshalian said.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Additional reporting by Catherine Bremer in Paris; Editing by Michael Roddy)
World
Israel
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
USAalltheway wrote:
Just imagine all the good that could be done if these brainwashed activists devoted their time and energy to people that actually needed help and did not cause their own problems.
Jul 08, 2011 10:53am EDT -- Report as abuse
See All Comments »
Add Your Comment
Social Stream (What's this?)
© Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters
Editorial Editions:
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Reuters
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Help
Journalism Handbook
Archive
Site Index
Video Index
Reader Feedback
Mobile
Newsletters
RSS
Podcasts
Widgets
Your View
Analyst Research
Thomson Reuters
Copyright
Disclaimer
Privacy
Professional Products
Professional Products Support
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Careers
Online Products
Acquisitions Monthly
Buyouts
Venture Capital Journal
International Financing Review
Project Finance International
PEhub.com
PE Week
FindLaw
Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service
Reuters on Facebook
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Other News on Friday, 8 July 2011 Venezuela's Chavez says surgery forces slower pace
|
ADP payroll report: Private sector employers created 157,000 jobs in June
Any force deal with Iraq must address Iran: Mullen
|
Ricky Martin hopes to add a daughter to his brood; see same-sex marriage legal in Puerto Rico
Congress considers resetting Russian relations
Microalgae could be Texas' next cashcrop
Lee Westwood grabs share of lead at Scottish Open
Iraqi PM Maliki criticises Sunni secession talk
|
Staten Island mosquitoes found carrying West Nile virus
Israelis say U.N. report on Gaza flotilla to appear soon
|
U.S. considers Palestinians statehood talks with U.N. a bad idea
Gwyneth Paltrow refuses to eat from canned foods
Cuba sets appeal hearing for jailed American
|
Taiwan test fires submarine launched missile
Analysis: Protests punish Pinera, but Chile economy seen safe
|
John Twomey and crew continue Irish qualification bid, sail in top 10 of IFDS Worlds
RIM says adds 1 million EMEA subscribers in 3 weeks
|
Court OKs TerreStar's $1.38 billion sale to Dish
|
Cell phones, devices biggest driving distractions
|
ABC soap All My Children to live on, online
|
Hack job! Murdoch axes paper to save deal
|
Elizabeth Smart to join ABC on missing person stories
|
Yemen's Saleh appears on TV, offers to share power
|
China warns U.S. officials not to meet Dalai Lama
|
Italy's Berlusconi exposes NATO rifts over Libya
|
Roof collapse at FC Twente soccer stadium kills one, injures 16
Karachi's ethnic, political violence kills 70 in three days
|
Syrian forces storm suburb; ambassador in Hama
|
U.N. should stay in volatile parts of Sudan: U.S.
|
As Egypt change drags on, some praise Mubarak
|
Deron Williams to reportedly consider playing in Turkey
Mets star Jose Reyes placed in 15-day DL with injured hamstring
Analysis: Summer to test Japan resolve over nuclear power
|
QB Kerry Collins calls it quits after 16 seasons
Special Report: Can Malaysia reform and discriminate?
|
Yemeni president makes first public appearance since bomb attack
Colts Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey dead at 69
SEC charges JPMorgan with rigging municipal bond deals
NYSE Euronext stockholders approve merger with Deutsche Boerse
UCLA Health System Pays $865,000 to Settle Celebrity Privacy Allegations
Martha Stewart's New Series Premieres This Month
Google's Schmidt sees room for several social networks
|
Twitter security lags some other sites: experts
|
Proxy firm unimpressed by RIM promise about board
|
Fans, stars, Hollywood say farewell to Harry Potter
|
Murdoch axes paper, British PM's aide faces arrest
|
Fifty-three feared dead in DR Congo plane crash
|
Sudan recognizes independence of oil-rich south
|
Free fishing events in Ontario to conclude this weekend
Egyptians rally to demand swifter reforms, justice
|
Peeping Tom jailed for secretly taping 260 women
Lawsuits predicted as New York towns ponder whether to block fracking
Hugh Grant helps shutter News of the World tabloid
No quick fix to east Libya woes as war drags on
|
Dead alligator goes for a ride
More urban poor depending on food subsidies
Beyond the euphoria of Southern independence
ABC says 'Children,' 'One Life' to live online
Ex-News of the World royal editor arrested
|
Michigan murder suspect kills self
200 activists blocked from Israel flights: police
|
Nature's fury takes 58 lives in Nepal since May 15
Google to cooperate in antitrust review: Schmidt
|
Greenlight Capital sells Yahoo stake: source
|
Baidu realigns business lines, senior exec to leave
|
Chris Young retires hat, readies album and tour
|
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights