TWO Newport women are still being detained awaiting deportation after a failed attempt to enter Israel on a peace-making trip to Bethlehem.

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

It is understood some British nationals could have been allowed to board a flight home last night, but the Foreign and Commonwealth Office could only say the group were expected to be deported in the next few days as the Argus went to press.

The women had travelled to the country with the intention of visiting Bethlehem to hold peaceful discussions with Palestinians and Israelis living in the West Bank, but they were stopped at the airport.

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

The pair went as part of an organised “flytilla” trip to the country planned to coincide with the anniversary of a ruling by the United Nations-backed International Court of Justice on July 9, 2004, which deemed the wall and settlements in the West Bank were both illegal.