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Press Release
PCHR Condemns Israeli Actions Against Foreign Activists
Date: 10 April 2002
Ref: 56/2002
Two Belgian citizens seeking to visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) have been detained at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv since their arrival at 1500 on 9 April and are due to be sent back to Belgium at 1600 today. This incident comes soon after 36 French civil society activists were prevented from entering Israel, also at Ben Gurion airport. PCHR condemns these acts as part of an apparent policy of preventing foreign activists, human rights defenders, and journalists from exposing violations of international human rights and humanitarian law perpetrated against Palestinian civilians.
On 8 April, 38 French citizens arrived at Ben Gurion airport from Paris on a chartered flight. After the first two members of the group passed through passport control as individuals, airport authorities informed the others that they would be sent back to France under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior. The delegation was refused food and water and prohibited from using the restroom; several members of the delegation were assaulted and insulted by airport personnel and had their film confiscated. They were detained for approximately 4 hours before being sent back to France.
On 6 April, authorities at Ben Gurion airport detained and threatened to deport a delegation from the Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits des l’Homme (FIDH) consisting of President Sidiki Kaba and Secretary-General Driss al-Yazami, as well as Henri Leclerc, Honorary President of the French League for Human Rights. The three, who were due to take part with representatives of other international human rights organisations in a press conference in Jerusalem organised by PCHR and LAW (the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment), were detained at the airport for four hours and released only after the intervention of several Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations.
Since the start of a massive military invasion of West Bank cities, towns, and refugee camps on 29 March, Israeli authorities have refused entry on at least five occasions to delegations from Spain, France, Belgium, and Italy, and have also expelled a number of foreign activists. In many incidents in the OPT and in Israel, Israeli army and police have used disproportionate and excessive force, including tear gas, percussion grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets, and batons against peaceful protests by foreign, Israeli, and Palestinian activists. PCHR expresses its appreciation and support for civil society activists seeking to witness firsthand the violations committed by Israeli occupying forces and to break the conspiracy of silence of the international community.
PCHR views these two most recent incidents as just the latest episodes in what is becoming an overall policy of obstructing internationals, as well as Israelis and Palestinians, from witnessing, protesting against or gathering information regarding Israel’s ongoing violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes, perpetrated against Palestinian civilians. This apparent policy enables Israel to continue to perpetrate its gross and systematic violations of international law without the world watching.
