Here Comes The Flytilla--But What Do They Want?

I just heard on the 5:00pm TV Israeli news (I have the Israeli Dish network at
home) that Israel has resorted to diplomatic intervention in the US to stop
Paul Larudee's plans to assist in getting planes to defy the blockade and
penetrate Gaza.
Quoted in Support Israel mail list, September 5, 2010

The idea of using a "flytilla" to bring aid into Gaza was spelled out on one of the Flotilla sites:

The Free Palestine Movement, US-based organization, is planning to send a aid plane loaded to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel's air and sea blockade.
Gazans live under heavy Israel siege for a long time and Egypt still insists on not to opening the only Gaza border crossing in a move condemned by Muslims around the world in protests. "We intend to send an aircraft to Gaza in much the same way boats were used -- without going through israeli or Egyptian airspace," Maan News agency quoted Mr. Paul Larudee Authorities in Gaza are supportive of the initiative and are working to locate a landing site. The plan is to send a light aircraft equipped with material sometime in the spring of 2011, after the next sea voyage. The group says in the statement on website that "Gaza air space can be entered without over-flying Israeli or Egyptian territory. Breaking the blockade by air may be even more feasible than by sea. An aircraft cannot be boarded while in flight, and the right aircraft can land almost anywhere in Gaza."

Now instead of flying to Gaza, it seems the "flytilla" is to land in Israel :

Between 600 and 1,200 activists are expected to arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport on Thursday night and Friday, on flights from Moscow and New York.

...It is expected that the activists will set up camp across the airport as part of their protest.

Yet the organizers of the flights denied their intention. One of them, Lubna Masarawa, told Haaretz in a phone call from London that the reports are overblown and do not reflect the activists' plans. "The main mistake is the attempt to tie the flights to the flotilla," she said. "There is no connection between the two."

The organizers say the idea is to send hundreds of civil society activists to visit the Palestinian Authority. The planning began about a year ago. "The activists will arrive as tourists and ask to pass through border control like any other tourists," Masarawa said. "There is no plan to confront anyone, but a true will to visit Palestinian cities and then the Negev."

Elsa Rassbach, another organizer, told Haaretz that "to classify us as hooligans is ridiculous. We are talking about a group of civil society activists whose average age is between 50 and 60."

The fact is though that there is no reason Israel should just take their word for it--and no country is required to allow people into the country who are expected to cause disruptions.

That is the reason that one tactic Israel will be using is one that has proven successful in dealing with the Flotilla--diplomatic intervention. Thus, Israel is providing intelligence to the US as well as 7 European countries and a number of foreign airline companies about these "activists".

Already, Ynet.News is reporting that 5 of these activists have entered Israel.

UPDATE: Challah Hu Akbar pointed out to be that the Jerusalem Post is reporting that 3 activists, from France and Belgium, who are participating in the flytilla have been arrested at Ben-Gurion airport and are in the process of being deported. The activists are from France and Belgium.

Now we wait to see what the flytilla brings.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gaza and Flytilla.