Confusion and controversy surrounded the arrival of a charter flight from Nairobi to Johannesburg on Thursday morning after 153 Palestinian refugee passengers were denied entry into South Africa.

Global Airways confirmed the incident in a statement released on Thursday evening, saying all passengers aboard the charter were declared inadmissible upon arrival at O.R. Tambo International Airport at 07:50. Global Airways is a Johannesburg-based aircraft leasing and charter company that operated the flight.

“As required under South African and international immigration laws and protocols, Global Airways shared the list of passengers and their travel credentials with the relevant South African authorities twenty-four hours prior to the charter flight’s departure,” the company said.

“At no point prior to landing … was Global Airways informed that the passengers would be deemed inadmissible.”

The airline said it was cooperating with the Border Management Authority (BMA) and assisting with “repatriation or onward travel arrangements for the affected passengers.” It referred further media queries to the BMA.

However, in a statement released earlier on Thursday, the humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers thanked South Africa’s government for intervening to ensure their eventual entry.

Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman expressed gratitude to DIRCO Director-General Zane Dangor and Justice Minister Ronald Lamola “for receiving Palestinian refugees who arrived on a flight to Johannesburg this morning, with open arms.”

Sooliman said the situation arose because the Israeli authorities deliberately withheld exit stamps from the refugees’ passports, effectively rendering them stateless upon arrival.

“The Border Management Authority acted in keeping with their mandate not to allow passengers without an exit stamp to disembark,” Sooliman said.

“Israel deliberately did not stamp the passports of these poor people to exacerbate their suffering in a foreign country.”

He added that Minister Lamola and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) intervened by requesting Home Affairs to waive the exit-stamp requirement “on humanitarian grounds.”

Gift of the Givers said it would, together with other civil society partners, provide humanitarian, legal, and medical assistance to the refugees.

“We thank the South African government for coming to the assistance of the Palestinian people yet again,” Sooliman said.

IOL

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