Paula Jesus and Marco Cola, the two activists from Brescia stopped in recent days by the Israeli authorities in the West Bank, near the village of Kafr Ni'ma, landed at 9.30 at Venice airport. "We have arrived now, we are at the checks with the police", said Cola upon landing, thus confirming his return to Italy after the days of detention. The flight marks the end of the affair that began last Friday, when the two were stopped together with four other Italian citizens while they were in the West Bank to assist Palestinian farmers in the olive harvest. After the transfer to Ben Gurion airport and the start of expulsion procedures, the six compatriots were able to leave Israel and return to Italy.
"They searched us, interrogated us, scanned us and stripped us naked, without ever giving us the opportunity to speak to a lawyer." This is the story of Marco Cola, one of the two activists from Brescia stopped on Friday by the Israeli authorities in the West Bank together with his partner Paula Jesus and four other Italians, while they were picking olives in a Palestinian field about twenty kilometers from Ramallah.
The two returned to Italy this morning on a flight from Israel and have already reached Brescia. Cola speaks of a detention marked by sleep deprivation, threats and humiliation: "Every twenty minutes they came to wake you up, with the lights always on, noises, insults and derision. The first night we were left without water and they didn't give us anything to eat until seven the next morning. We also asked for toilet paper, but it wasn't there. Now I have blisters all over my body", he says. The women of the Italian group, he specifies, were not beaten, while the Palestinian owners of the land were "beaten to death".
"After a few minutes of being in the Palestinian fields, about ten settlers arrived, armed to the neck, with rifles, pistols and knives. Immediately afterwards the army and the police arrived", continues Cola, who says that the activists were then transferred to the police station and subsequently to prison: "They didn't break anything, but I was beaten with punches and kicks". "The international attention is so high that we honestly didn't think the situation could be so violent", adds Cola, who once returned also denounces the insults received on social media: "I'm sorry for the amount of insults we are receiving. I think that the current cultural situation has such a degeneration and depravity that it allows us to insult people so much and gratuitously". Above all, there remains the relief of returning home. "The important thing is to be back", he concludes, underlining that the return trip was paid for by the Israeli state: "We didn't cost Italy a euro".
The two La Spezia citizens Giorgia Lombardi, municipal councilor of La Spezia, and Lorenzo Diofili, stopped by the Israeli authorities in the West Bank together with four other Italians while they were participating in activities to support the Palestinian population engaged in the olive harvest, have also returned to Italy. The six activists landed in Venice after being transferred to the detention center at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv and the expulsion procedures were completed.
