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Appeal for volunteers after Christian peace campaigners refused entry to Israel


On two occasions in the past week, Israeli officials at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport refused entry to members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) who had traveled to Israel to join the Christian Peacemaker Team in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

On Tuesday 2 July, Israeli authorities interrogated a CPT reservist from the Netherlands and held him in the airport for fourteen hours before placing him on a flight home. Three days later they interrogated a CPT reservist from the United States for ten hours before sending him home. Each CPTer had served in Israel-Palestine before. Both volunteers cooperated with the intensive questioning of Israeli security officials, who seemed most concerned with visas from the government of Iraqi Kurdistan stamped in both CPTers' passports because of their past CPT work in that region.

CPT volunteers in Palestine take part in peaceful activities, such as escorting children to school where they have to walk past settlements or mothers to hospital. They also document activities at checkpoints.

In response to these developments, CPT's team in Palestine wants to initiate a quick 'surge' of volunteers traveling through Israel to join its project within the next few weeks. This surge will help CPT better staff the project and uphold critical commitments both to partners in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills in this interim period of very few team members. The results of this initiative will also help CPT to ascertain whether the Israeli authorities are targeting it for removal.

CPT is appealing for their reservists to go to Israel/Palestine in the next few weeks. Financial support may be available. They are also asking for contributions to help fund their work.

For more information see: www.cpt.org/

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