Report by Bruce
This is an account of the return of the twelve British activists who were detained and deported by Israel as part of the so-called ‘flytilla.’
Earlier this month, Palestinian civil society organisations who made up the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ campaign expected 600 to 1,000 foreign activists to take up their invitation to fly to Israel on Friday July 8th and head to the West Bank for a week of peaceful activities, starting with events in Bethlehem and Ramallah.
Activists were told to inform Israeli immigration officials of their intention to visit only Palestinian areas on arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, knowing they might be refused entry, as Palestinians have no airport of their own and all international visitors wishing to visit the occupied West Bank must first travel through Israel or Jordan.
If those arriving were prevented from travelling to Bethlehem, this was to prove to the world that there is an Israeli siege of the West Bank, as well as Gaza.
Many activists were not even allowed to board their flights after the Israeli government instructed airlines to refuse them permission to fly to Israel. Over 120 people were able to make it to Ben Gurion Airport, but were stopped, arrested and detained before they were able to clear Israeli immigration - all because they refused to lie when asked about the purpose of their visit.
To set the scene, here’s a report from The Real News:
Among those taken to Givon Prison in Ramla were twelve UK activists who were prevented from travelling to Bethlehem. Givon, a high-security facility for foreigners, illegal immigrants and internationals, described as ‘a five-star prison in the Israeli gulag’ is a far cry from other Israeli prisons where the conditions are much worse and Palestinian prisoners are routinely tortured.
The July 11th edition of ITV’s Wales Tonight programme featured this report of four Welsh women who were at the time all being detained by Israeli authorities:
On the morning of Monday July 11th, I received a message asking if I could be at London’s Luton Airport (which is actually in Bedfordshire) to meet two flytilla deportees who were on the 23.55 EasyJet flight from Tel Aviv.
Only two deportees?
At first I wondered if the Israelis deported only two because there weren’t enough seats on the flight. After all, this was the high season. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the Israeli Government might be purposely releasing the deportees in drips and drabs to minimise any media coverage or interest in their return. A more sinister motive may have been to use their release as a psychological weapon, purposely keeping the prisoners in the dark about when they would be deported.
Later I learned that there were well over twenty empty seats on that flight, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to why only two activists arrived on Monday night.
In the next video, one of the flytilla detainees, Mick Napier, Chair of Scottish PSC, describes the conditions in which the prisoners were held, coupled with some covertly filmed images. It is interesting to note that the detainees were never informed by Israel under what legislation they were being incarcerated and deported. You’ll also hear that some of the detainees were brought before a so-called “tribunal” whose presiding official could barely understand English:
The welcoming party who turned up at Luton Airport at about 23.30 on Monday July 11th, included London BDS, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) as well as several members of the Luton’s Green Party who turned up every night to welcome all the flytilla returnees.
The first two UK detainees to arrive turned out to be Mick Napier and 83 year-old John Lynes, a retired academic (and a signatory of JfJfP), who were described as terrorists and hooligans by Israeli authorities.
The media, including the BBC, Three Counties Radio and PressTV were also in attendance and waiting in the arrivals area to interview them.
A few of Monday's welcoming party. The sign says: "PEACE HAS NO PLACE BEHIND BARS."
John Lynes and Mick Napier.
J-BIG was also there.
- Some of Tuesday’s welcoming party.
Overall, the passengers and visitors who came over to chat were quite supportive and a few even stayed to greet the flytilla returnees. One returning passenger who wasn’t one of the deportees, thanked us for coming at this late hour to meet them.
As they came into the arrivals area, the deportees were very easy to spot. As shown below, many were still wearing their white prison garb on which they had written, Hooligan Prisoner! Guest of Immigrant Hotel, Prisoner of Israeli Democracy and Prisoner for Palestine.
The second group of flytilla heroes who arrived on Tuesday July 12th.
Among the returnees were two Americans who flew to Tel Aviv via London. One of them, New Yorker Laura Durkay, wrote an interesting account that you can read here.
The next video includes interviews with some of the flytilla deportees talking about their experiences filmed by a few members of ISM London who also thoughtfully brought along refreshments, making it a true celebratory return.
Another returning flytilla detainee who arrived Tuesday night was Anne Gray, a member of the Green Party in Haringey (a borough in north London). Here’s a link to Anne’s blog in which she describes her experiences.
J-BIG’s Les Levidow, who was also on the same flight, wrote his observations that can be read here.
Even though the Israeli authorities wiped their SD and memory cards clean, the detainees used a hidden video camera to film the conditions inside Givon Prison.
Filmed using a hidden camera, this photo shows how some of the prisoners decorated their cell. Image courtesy of Swansea Action for Palestine.
On Wednesday July 13th, Fiona Williams, Joyce Giblin and Pippa Bartolotti, the Deputy Leader of the Welsh Green Party, were deported from Israel and arrived at Luton later that night. Unfortunately the UK coordinators were not notified until early in the morning on Thursday July 14th, too late to arrange any official welcome.
Here’s another ITV Wales Tonight report from July 14th. By this time, only one British detainee remained inside Israel.
The last detainee, Dee Murphy of Swansea arrived on the 23.55 EasyJet flight on Thursday July 14th. Meeting her along with several ex-detainees, were members of Luton’s Green Party and London BDS.
Dee Murphy (centre). Her T-shirt reads: "I WAS IN AN ISRAELI PRISON FOR REFUSING TO LIE!"
http://londonbds.org/2011/07/24/welcome-to-luton-flytilla-heroes/
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