Witnessing the outrageous collaboration ~ by @ArabDissident | #AirFlotilla2

The 365 Run | April 15, 2012

The RDV at Paris’ main airport, Roissy Charles de Gaulles, was fixed at 5AM today for the departure of the French pro-Palestine activists joining the international “Welcome to Palestine” campaign.

Most of the participants received the day before a notification cancelling their tickets after Israeli authorities ordered the airlines companies to do so. Even a day after the airlines companies’ notifications, most of us were able to register themselves online and get the boarding cards, which keeps being a paradoxical and unexplained point.

Once at the airport, the advises given to all the participants were so far respected, i.e. keep being with your partners or friends and not call for the gathering of all the participants for example. The medias were also ready to film and interview the pro-Palestine activists answering the call of the 5AM RDV.

The “luggage strategy” divided the participants between those going directly to the boarding gate and those trying to register their luggage. The “strategy” lays in the luggage would delay the deportation if there is any to happen.

All of the participants, French citizens, handing French passports were immediately denied access to the planes, whether from the luggage registration reception or directly at the boarding gate. The French authorities, as well as the Lufthansa staff, had lists: lists of all the French citizens, not double nationality holders, without any link to Israel, which is a quite success as in the Israeli authorities will not be able to track the activists apart from the simple tourists.

The lists black-listed all the French citizens booked on the 15th of April to Israel. It is actually an attack against France above all, considering its citizens as second class ones: ashamed we were all at the collaboration of our authorities to the fascist Israel.

 

 

After the WTP participants tried to board their planes, they decided to obtain an official letter from Lufthansa giving the reasons of the banning. There was no responsible, no head of the airlines company except a powerless employee with copies of a standard paper accompanied with a mere copy of a letter from the Israeli ministry of interior to all the airlines ordering the ban as following:

“1/ Due to statements of pro-Palestinian radicals to arrive on commercial flights from abroad to disrupt the order and confront security forces at friction points, it was decided to deny their entry in accordance to the Law of entry to Israel 1952.

2/ Attached is a list of passengers that are denied entry to Israel. In light of the above mentioned, you are ordered not to board them on your flights to Israel.

3/ Failure to comply with this directive will result in sanctions against the airlines.

4/ This list is partial and at a later stage you will be advised of additional names.

Most likely there will be additional activists, that their names we will not be able to advice of in advance, that their entry to Israel will be denied.”

The Hasbara strategies keep being the all-time same demonization of the persons acting or joining for or with any pro-Palestine movement. “Radicals” means violent which quickly leads to “terrorism” and “terrorists”, while in the WTP statements and press-releases “peaceful activists” is clearly defined and much repeated.

The basis of the Israeli threat to the airlines companies lies on a law they change at every change of wind. Few days before the due date to the April flytilla, the Knesset decided to change the immigration law again, as in: every airlines company boarding an “illegal passenger” after he or she has been “officially” denied to enter Israel will be financially sanctioned by fines and whatever restrictions Israel can decide to apply.

And the latest point shows clearly that the Isreali authorities could not make any difference between the participants to the Welcome to Palestine campaign and the regular tourists, so on a large scale, all the French passengers have been listed.

Chants have been shouted during the whole time of demonstration at the airport denouncing the illegal ban Israel ordered, the abuse of the right of free circulation Israel signed, the freedoms of the French citizens and all those blocked in the other countries such as Belgium, Italy, Canada and Switzerland among others.

When any prisoner in the world is allowed to be visited, Palestine is a jailed country which does not even have that same fundamental right.

In solidarity with our Canadians comrades joining the WTP campaign and after French participants have been denied boarding by Air France staff under Israeli orders, the protesters tried to get in the Air France offices but were violently pushed back by the French riot police.

The latest step of today’s Air Flotilla 2 was for the participants to ask for refunding. As mentioned earlier, the foreign airlines companies rarely have official offices at the airport. No one was able to answer the demands of the protesters who decided to go for a sit-in inside the airport, facing the Lufthansa reception offices.

Some tried to convince the French authorities by talking and explaining the situation to each of those policemen surrounding, encircling the protesters – in vain. IOF or French riot police “CRS”, they finally take the same positions when it is about Palestine.

France has been felt by all as a new Israeli colony, where our people, our country has been asked to bow to the real and ultimate  terrorist, and ended up obeying. Yes, the French used to be proud of their country, but in the airport named after the greatest nationalist, master of the French sovereignty, De Gaulle, could have been most probably mad of anger at what became the country he held.

In this crucial election time, we are all waiting for the reactions of our representatives and candidates.



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