Over 150 Palestinians Held on Plane    11/14 06:11

   

   JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- South African authorities faced heavy criticism Friday 
after they held more than 150 Palestinians, including a woman who is nine 
months pregnant, on a plane for around 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.

   The Palestinians landed on a charter plane at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo 
International Airport on Thursday morning after a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, 
South Africa's Border Management Authority said in a statement.

   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 statement said.

   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 said 
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 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."