BICOM

Approximately 600 additional Israeli police officers will be deployed at Ben Gurion International Airport today and tomorrow to stop hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters that plan to fly into Israel. After the recent failure of the flotilla to set sail from Greece, protesters have planned an en masse ‘fly in’ to Israel. The police expect protesters to start arriving on 50 different flights from Europe today and early tomorrow with the intention to reach locations within Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Some activists have already landed in Israel, but they were not stopped so as not to create unnecessary friction. However, five activists from Belgium and France were detained and deported after they landed yesterday. The police along with intelligence personnel, the Interior Ministry, the Israel Airports Authority and the Foreign Ministry are involved in the operations. Foreign airlines have been told to provide passenger lists to Israeli authorities 48 hours before takeoff and Israeli security personnel in Europe are passing on information about passengers who seem suspicious.  Any suspects will be questioned and detained at Ben Gurion Airport and deported back to their home country before reaching passport control.