“We are here to tell them to go home. If you have come here to attack us,
I am here to defend myself,” explained Daniel Gilad, a
counter-protester who arrived at the airport at 9am on Sunday to meet the
‘flytilla’.
Israel’s foreign ministry has waged a determined campaign among European
counterparts in recent weeks, advertising their position against the fly-in
and describing the protesters as provocateurs.
A letter that the Israeli government intends to present to protesters on their
arrival was leaked to local media on Saturday evening. Quoted
enthusiastically by pro-Israel demonstrators gathered at Ben Gurion airport,
it begins: “Dear activist, we appreciate your choosing to make Israel
the object of your humanitarian concerns. We know there were many other
worthy choices.
“You could have chosen to protest the Syrian regime’s daily savagery
against its own people, which has claimed thousands of lives … But instead
you chose to protest against Israel, the Middle East’s sole democracy.”
Protest organiser Dr Mazin Qumsiyeh, who teaches at three of the top
Palestinian universities, denied Israel’s claim the protest was intended to
cause disruption. Dr Qumsiyeh insists the purpose was to draw foreign
tourists to the West Bank where they would be shown the reality of life for
Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
Israel’s “paranoid”, “hysterical” reaction to the
initiative, he argues, has proved the demonstrators’ point: “Israel’s
policy is now clear – anyone who comes to visit Palestine, to visit
relatives, to work in its universities or health system, simply is not
allowed. They have to lie and say they are visiting Israel as a tourist.”
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