The “Welcome to Palestine” initiative took place July 8-16, 2011. In response to an invitation put forth by Stop the Wall along with 40 other Palestinian civil society organizations, popular resistance committees, and political factions, hundreds of international visitors reserved flights to Israel's Ben Gurion airport for July 8th, 2011.
Hundreds of men, women, and children arrived on July 8 despite the Israeli government doing everything in its power to stop them, including pressuring seven commercial European airline companies to cancel many of their individual flight reservations. The campaign's message was simple: "The international community must recognize the basic human right to receive visitors from abroad and support the right of their own citizens to travel to Palestine without harassment." The international guests who did did manage to enter participated in a week of solidarity activities from July 8th until July 16th.
Dear International partners,
We would like to thank you for your support and solidarity in the Welcome to Palestine campaign that has now finished, with lessons learned and challenges that pushed the occupation’s limits and showed the world once again the discriminatory apartheid regulations that Israel uses to isolate the Palestinians.
In the coming months, we will coordinate campaigns as part of a new joint initiative: “Steadfast Together”. We will intensify popular civil campaigns that challenge the occupation and strengthen solidarity amongst Palestinians and with the international community.
Our first action has already started! Boycotting Israeli products across Palestine aiming at weakening the occupation economy and holding Israel accountable.. Especially during Ramadan, we are intensifying the boycott call in a widespread campaign on the ground. The campaign started in Gaza, in Tulkarem and will spread across all Palestinian cities during the coming week. In Bethlehem, on Friday the 12th of August, we will start our action amongst the Palestinians going to pray to Jerusalem.
From the 5th of October until the 5th of November, we will bring support to Palestinian farmers in the olive picking season, supporting them in their steadfastness, “Sumud” on their lands. With your cooperation, we will bring volunteers, Palestinians and internationals to help pick olives, to demonstrate and protect land that is threatened of confiscation and people and land that are facing savage attacks by settlers.
We ask you to join our campaigns in our local and international efforts to resist and defy Israeli occupation and apartheid!
Together,
Stop the Wall Campaign
