flytilla

British peace activist Gary Spedding holds up his passport, with a refusal stamp from the Israeli border authorities. (photo: Aaron Dover)

British national challenges Israel’s policy of deporting peace activists

Israel’s Interior Ministry banned British peace activist Gary Spedding from the country for 10 years, claiming that he was an anti-Semitic liar who might start a riot. Unlike other activists who have suffered the same fate, Spedding isn’t giving up without a fight. An Israeli court is slated to rule next month on a case…

By Haggai Matar August 24, 2015

Welcome to Israel: Where protesting racism is dangerous

On Sunday, as Israeli security forces were rounding up activists who were trying to enter Palestine, a racist conference was held in Ramle and a middle-aged woman was beaten for protesting racism. Welcome to a frightening Israel, where being non-racist is dangerous Even though almost all of the “Welcome to Palestine” participants were prevented from…

By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat April 18, 2012

Israeli response to fly-in proves West Bank is the Palestinians’ prison

Advocates for Israel often claim that the Palestinians run their own life. Yet again and again it appears that the West Bank has become their prison. Last week I posted here a criticism of Ambassador Michal Oren’s Foreign Policy piece, titled “Israel’s Resilient Democracy.” One of Ambassador Oren’s claims was that the fact that Palestinians…

By Noam Sheizaf April 16, 2012

Latest

The first draft of the Flytilla letter

By Yaniv Eidelstein They eventually did some stylistic editing, but this is how it looked like in first draft: Yaniv Eidelstein is a Tel Aviv-based translator.

By +972 Magazine April 15, 2012

The leftists are coming! The leftists are coming!

Listen my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Bibi Revere, On the fifteenth of April, 2012 (but meanwhile don’t take your hand off your helve) Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, “If the leftists march By land or air from Ben Gurion airport Put a…

By Ami Kaufman April 14, 2012

Activists plan to land in TLV airport, hundreds of flights already canceled

I’m writing this from somewhere in Europe. Sunday morning, I will board a plane* bound for Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. Organizers of the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign tell me that more than half the passengers on my flight will be international activists. UPDATE: According to reports in international and Israeli media, hundreds of flights scheduled…

By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat April 14, 2012

Reframing non-violent resistance: An act of moral piracy

When we allow non-violence to be distorted as illegitimate, we fail to uphold our most cherished principles. It is not a strange phenomenon for morality to be the object of contestation. Competing groups often battle for the moral high ground when presenting their case to the outside world in a customary appeal for support. Far…

By Omar H. Rahman January 10, 2012

Egged bus

Palestinians to launch “Freedom Rides” campaign on Israeli buses

Activists seek to reenact the US civil rights movement’s campaign in order to highlight Israel’s segregation policy in the West Bank Palestinian activists are increasing their efforts to expose Israel’s segregation policy in the West Bank, as well as violations on their civil and human rights. In a message to the press, the Popular Struggle…

By Noam Sheizaf November 8, 2011

New Wikileaks cable shows Israel’s West Bank blockade

In a 2009 cable, American diplomats complain that Israel is not issuing work visas for Palestinian companies’ foreign employees While most people who follow the news from Israel and the Palestinian territories know well enough that Israel blocks travel to and from Gaza, it is always surprising how few are aware that all exists and…

By Noam Sheizaf August 27, 2011

Israeli activist Matan Cohen being detained by police at Ben Gurion airport (photo: Oren Ziv / activestills.org)

Where are the Palestinian voices in mainstream media?

Have international solidarity mobilizations drowned out Palestinian voices? Over the last few weeks, media in this region was filled with images of people from all over the Western world holding up Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine.” We’ve heard from the likes of Americans, like prize-winning author Alice Walker and former CIA official Ray McGovern (both…

By Mairav Zonszein July 17, 2011

Out of hundreds, two ‘air flotilla’ activists allowed to stay

According to various news reports, two “air flotilla” activists who arrived in Israel last Friday have been allowed to remain in Israel (and travel to the West Bank freely) on the condition that they “refrain from disrupting the peace.” The activists were part of the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign which sent hundreds of European tourists…

By Joseph Dana July 13, 2011

Were ‘air flotilla’ activists arrested in West Bank?

According to media reports carried by all major news outlets in Israel, four ‘air flotilla’ passengers were arrested/detained Saturday in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh during an unarmed demonstration this morning. Haaretz, in its headline story, is citing reports by Channel 10 (Heb), that four ‘air flotilla’ activists have been taken for questioning…

By Joseph Dana July 9, 2011

A special form for Arab passengers to warn airport of their arrival

Israel responded to the “flytilla” with a wildly disproportionate deployment of police and extraordinary security checks. But Palestinian citizens of Israel are discriminated at the Ben Gurion Airport on an hourly basis – and are now able to racially profile themselves, using a specially provided form to warn the airport authorities of their arrival. In…

By Dimi Reider July 9, 2011