Welcome To Palestine 2012" Campaign Launched
By Mazin Qumsiyeh
10 April, 2012
Countercurrents.org
Over 25 Palestinian organizations proudly announce the
impending arrival of hundreds of visitors for the Welcome to Palestine 2012
campaign and we invite you to a press conference to detail our program and
goals on Tuesday April 10th at 5 PM in the Bethlehem Peace Center. We
proceeded with our preparations despite the fact that several volunteers
were harassed by Israeli occupation authorities. In one case, a peace
activist home was raided at 2 AM by occupation forces who took his computer
and his cell phone. Other peace activists were delayed or questioned for
hours as they exited or entered the country. The dozens of volunteers
working with us were only encouraged because with these actions Israel
itself shed a light on its own policies of siege and isolation of the West
Bank. More volunteers are joining every day to ensure a smooth program
for our visitors which includes starting to build a new school, getting to
know Palestinians, informative tours, and cultural exchanges.
The last campaign in July 2011 saw hundreds of individuals purchase airline
tickets and attempt to board planes to Palestine. Israel sent a "black
list" of 342 participants from the ages of 9 to 83 years old to prevent
them from boarding planes sparking huge protests in several international
airports. The Israeli military also turned the airport near Tel Aviv into a
military compound. One hundred twenty-seven women and men were arrested at
Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and then imprisoned for several days as they
insisted on their right to visit Palestinian associations and families.
Still, a lot of good resulted from this as well. As a result of legal
challenges, many European airlines fully refunded the tickets and airline
unions joined us in pressing for freedom of travel. Furthermore, the
publicity shed light on Israel's attempts to deny visits by internationals
for humanitarian peaceful support to millions of Palestinians living under
occupation. What the Israeli government apparently cannot stand in this
initiative is that the women and men coming from 15 to 21 April in the West
Bank refuse to lie and hide. They refuse to pretend Palestine and
Palestinians do not exist. Israel calls that "deligitimation" and spreads
lies about the intention of the international visits. We thank these
visitors for working for peace and humanity with honesty and dignity.
The international community recognizes the basic human right of
Palestinians to receive visitors from abroad and supports the right of
their own citizens to travel to Palestine without harassment. We reject all
attempts to isolate and silence us. Where Israel works to isolate us, we
invite all to join us openly and proudly. We are thus having larger
programs to challenge the siege. With the help of the international
community and local volunteers, we will achieve our goal of peace and
freedom and thus restore the values and principles that we share as human
beings.
We invite members of the press to a press conference to detail our program
and goals Tuesday 10 April at 5 PM in the Bethlehem Peace Center.
Websites:
http://bienvenuepalestine.com
http://palestinianspring.palestinejn.org
http://www.righttoenter.ps
http://welcometopalestine.info
Email: [email protected]
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