By Enyichukwu Enemanna
South African authorities on Friday came under heavy criticism after holding more than 150 Palestinians passengers, including a woman who is nine-month pregnant, on a plane for about 12 hours due to complications with their travel documents.
A pastor who was allowed to meet with the passengers while they were still stuck on the plane said it was extremely hot and that children were screaming and crying.
According to a statement by the South Africa’s Border Management Authority, the Palestinians fleeing the war in Gaza landed on a charter plane at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport on Thursday morning after a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.
The statement says the Palestinian passengers did not have exit stamps from Israeli authorities, did not indicate how long they would be staying in South Africa and had not given local addresses, leading immigration authorities to deny them entry.
The 153 passengers including families and children were allowed to leave the plane on Thursday night after South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs intervened and a local non-governmental organization called Gift of the Givers offered to accommodate them.
The Border Management Authority said 23 passengers had since traveled on to other countries, leaving 130 in South Africa.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said it was the second plane carrying Palestinians to land in South Africa in the last two weeks and that the passengers themselves said they did not know where they were going. He confirmed that both planes were believed to be carrying people from war-torn Gaza.
It was not immediately clear how the charter plane was organized, where exactly it came from and why the passengers were able to leave Israel without the proper documentation, as South African authorities claimed.
The South African pastor who was given access to the plane while it was on the tarmac told national broadcaster SABC that many of the Palestinians now intended to claim asylum in South Africa.
South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and even initiated a case before the International Court of Justice against Israel over Gaza but the treatment of the travelers has sparked anger.
“It’s dire,” Nigel Branken, the pastor, said in an interview with SABC on Thursday from the plane as he described the conditions. “When I came onto the plane it was excruciatingly hot. There were lots of children just sweating and screaming and crying.”
“I do not believe this is what South Africa is about. South Africa should be letting these people into the airport at the very least and letting them apply for asylum. This is their basic fundamental right guaranteed in our constitution.”
