Two other activists were deported overnight, leaving 82 still in Israeli
custody awaiting flights back to home.
Most of the activists being held are French, but nationals from the United
States, Belgium, Bulgaria, Holland and Spain were also in detention.
Thirteen British pro-Palestinian activists were being detained in Israel on
Sunday after being arrested for attempting to stage a "solidarity visit" to
the West Bank.
The activists, organised by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign but
from across Britain, were among 120 foreign sympathisers who arrived at Ben
Gurion airport in Tel Aviv over the weekend.
They were intending to participate in a week-long Welcome to Palestine
solidarity visit to Bethlehem and other parts of the West Bank.
The protest action, dubbed the 'flytilla’, came in the wake of the failed
attempt to organize a flotilla of vessels to challenge Israel’s maritime
blockade on Gaza. Greek authorities prevented the vessels from leaving port.
While most of those detained were put on flights back to their country of
origin, a Foreign Office spokesman said that due to flights being booked for
the summer holidays, the British participants might have to wait until
Monday or Tuesday.
The British activists are mainly older campaigners, and include John Lynes,
83, a retired academic, and Audrey Gray, 77, a retired nurse and Methodist
lay preacher, according to the organisers.
A lawyer who met some of the British activists on Saturday, Anan Odeh,
complained that the conditions in which they were held was "shocking".
"They were put into trucks that they normally use to transfer prisoners," he
said in an interview posted online. "These metal trucks with metal chairs
are very small. At least 12 people were put in one of these trucks and left
there for a long time without food, drinks or air conditioning.
"After several hours they asked for food and drinks, but they got nothing.
This to me is shocking to hear, as there are several men of age that were
detained."
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel prime minister, told the cabinet on Sunday that
Israel had acted "methodically" to thwart a new provocation.
"The agents provocateur tried to enter Israel - a considerable portion of them
were stopped at their points of origin, some were stopped at Ben-Gurion
airport and some, a minority, entered Israel and were detained here.
"I would like to make it clear that Israel will continue to frustrate
provocations and attempts to break through our borders, whether by land, sea
or air."
Activists claim that banning foreigners from entering the West Bank is illegal
and demonstrates that it too is subject to a blockade, as well as Gaza.
