Police detained two leftist activists Sunday at Ben Gurion International Airport Sunday afternoon after they held up signs that said "Welcome to Palestine." Forty anti-Israeli activists were refused entry into Israel in the hours between Saturday night and 3:00 p.m. Sunday. They were all taken to questioning in the Interior Ministry office at the airport, pending their repatriation.

The two leftists unfurled the signs immediately after Police Central District Commander Maj. Gen. Bentzi Sau gave reporters a briefing on the situation. As they were led away, nationalist Israeli activists shouted at them: "Go see what is going on in Syria!"

Maj. Gen. Sau said that "We are carrying out joint operations of all Israeli government ministries. We have given the airline companies a list of 500 activists whom we said we do not let into Israel. Most of them will remain in their countries of origin. However, some of them succeed in arriving here, and we question them and return them to their countries of origin."

"Whoever does not accept the Interior Ministry's arrangement will be taken to the Israel Prisons Authority's detention facilities," he added.