RAMALLAH, July 9 (JMCC) - Airlines will be hard-pressed to deport some 120 pro-Palestinian activists detained at Israel's Ben Gurion airport since Friday, an airline official
told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
At peak summer season, flights are already fully booked, said the unnamed official. The report could mean long days of detention in the uncomfortable airport holding facility.
The airlines will have a hard time dealing all at once with large groups of pro-Palestinian activists that Israel wants to deport.
We're talking about the peak of summer traveling season and the flights are full. We'll have to act accordingly and make different preparations, but first of all, we'll have to receive instructions from the head of the aviation authority in Israel for the deportation of the activists, he said.
At present, we are unprepared to deal with this, in terms of human resources and in terms of amount of planes, the official added.
Still, the Israeli government is saying the activists will all be deported in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Most of the activists arrived on Friday saying they wanted to visit Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Israel often blocks travelers from entering Israel who tell immigration officials they will visit Palestinian areas.