TWO Newport women are among a group of UK activists being detained awaiting deportation from Israel, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed.

Pippa Bartolotti, deputy leader of the Green Party in Wales, 57, and Joyce Giblin, of Bassaleg Road, are being held with other British nationals by the Israeli authorities at David Ben-Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv.

The women had travelled from London to the country with the intention of visiting Bethlehem on a peace-making exercise in the West Bank, but the Israeli authorities intervened.

Ms Bartolotti, of Malpas, was originally allowed through passport control but was later detained after speaking to journalists.

Giving an interview to Russia Today, posted on website YouTube (see below), the mother of three said she believed she was the only activist to be allowed through.

She said: “There’s 40 or 50 people waiting, hoping not to be deported, likely to be deported and there’s me.

“So it’s up to me to be their voice and to put forward the point of view of the people wanting to come through.”

Ms Bartolotti told the news channel her group had never meant to mount a demonstration and that they were there to seek a peace for people living on both sides of the Israeli Palestinian divide.

The former fashion designer was one of around 600 people from 15 different countries to go on the trip, dubbed the “flytilla”.

Their visit was to coincide with the anniversary of a ruling by the United Nations backed International Court of Justice on July 9, 2004, which said the wall and settlements were both illegal.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was understood the Israeli authorities had stopped the group because they did not want the group to travel to Bethlehem.

He said all detainees had been visited by consular staff and the embassy had been in contact with families in the UK.

The women are expected to be deported in the next few days.

Video from Israeli state TV (Channel 1) showing the confusion as Pippa Bartolotti breaks out of the airport