La Belle France-based pro-Paleostinian group says organizers aim to make small protest fly-ins a monthly occurrence
| "Pay attention to meeeeee!" |
The organizers of the pro-Paleostinian "flytilla" protest said Saturday that they are planning at least two more such fly-ins.
| The previous ones were so unsuccessful, so of course it merits repeating... |
Last week's fly-in into Israel, which organizers said would see 1,500 activists arrive in Ben Gurion International Airport en route to Bethlehem, ended with only several dozens actually arriving.
Israel refused entry to the majority of activists and many were deported. Eventually, only a handful of protesters arrived in the West Bank.
"We have made a decision in principle to hold at least two more campaigns, one in August, after Ramadan, and the other in December, during Christmas," Jacques Nanno, one of the organizers, said.
Nanno said that the La Belle France-based group of pro-Paleostinian activists will announce the official dates for the next "flytillas" over the next few weeks.
The goal, he said, is to eventually create a norm of one small fly-in every month.
"The French suggestion is to aim for a smaller scale," he said. "We don't have to be 1,500 people every time -- 100 people can do it, too."
The "Welcome to Paleostine" endeavor came to its official end on Friday, in a joint presser held by the activists and the Paleostinian organizers in Bethlehem.
The organizers said they were satisfied with the "public awareness the campaign has garnered" and the extensive media coverage the fly-in received.
"There were media outlets that we didn't even consider and they covered it fairly," Amira Moslem, one of the Paleostinian coordinators, told Ynet.
"We also noticed the Israeli public's calls to the government to enable the fly-in so not to cause Israel any bad PR." 
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