Over the past few years, Israeli authorities have increased the frequency of denying foreign nationals entry to the occupied territories at its land, sea and air border crossings, where it exercises full control.

International solidarity activists attempting to renew their visas or travel back to Palestine after stays in their home country are sometimes being denied entry and are issued a ban that prevents them from entering Israel for ten years.

The 2011 and 2012 summer “Flytilla” campaigns saw hundreds of international activists — who publicly declared their intention to travel to the West Bank — arrive at Ben Gurion Airport and be denied entry. Dozens more were blacklisted and forbidden to board planes in their respective countries to fly to Israel.

In this atmosphere, in July 2012 Nitzan Alon, head of Israeli Central Command, approved an order that granted the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority the right to search for and arrest internationals residing illegally in the West Bank in order to deport them on the grounds of overstaying their visa.