CPTNet
May 20, 2003
HEBRON: Israel Cracks Down -- CPTer Arrested; Office Searched; Team
Restricted
CPTer Greg Rollins (Surrey, BC) is currently being held in an Israeli
prison in Tel Aviv threatened with deportation. Rollins' attorney,
Jonathan Kuttab, is seeking an injunction from the Israeli High Court to
block deportation.
Rollins was arrested Sunday while he and CPTer Chris Brown (San Francisco,
CA) monitored the detention of several Palestinian men by Israeli soldiers
in H1 (the area of Hebron under Palestinian control). The soldiers checked
the CPTers' IDs, but Rollins only had a photocopy of his passport because
the original had been damaged and was at the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv
for replacement. Soldiers took Rollins into custody but did not charge him
with any crime.
In further developments, eight Israeli soldiers entered and searched CPT's
apartments (living quarters and office) at 8:20pm on Tuesday, May 20. They
examined the passports and visas of the CPTers present, photographed the
apartment and individual team members, studied the maps and pictures on the
wall, and scrutinized the contents of the filing cabinet.
The soldiers then verbally issued the following orders to the team:
H1 (part of Hebron under Palestinian control)
* CPTers are not allowed in H1 at all. If Israeli troops
catch CPTers in H1 they will arrest them and deport them.
* No internationals or Israelis are allowed in H1 except
those working for NGOs recognized by the Israeli government.
H2 (part of Hebron controlled by the Israeli military, includes the old
city where the CPT apartments and four Israeli settlements are located):
* CPTers are not to go anywhere near an Israeli settlement.
* CPTers are not to accompany school children to school in H2.
* CPTers will not be allowed back into H2 if they leave (e.g.
to go to Jerusalem).
This is the second search of the CPT apartment within the past two
days. On Monday, the soldiers did not ask for passports and visas and did
not pass on any orders to CPT.
International peace workers are an essential part of the reconciliation
process. CPT will do everything possible to continue our work of
contributing to the road to authentic peace in Israel/Palestine. We ask
supporters to remain alert to further developments and possible action
requests.
Current CPT Hebron Team members are: Sue Rhodes (Bath, England), Germana
Nijim (Cedar Falls, IA), Mary Lawrence (Lunenburg, MA), Eric Schiller
(Ottawa, ON), Harriet Taylor (Germantown, MD), Chris Brown (San Francisco,
CA), Greg Rollins (Surrey, BC), Kathie Uhler (New York, NY), Diane Janzen
(Calgary, AB)
Christian Peacemaker Teams is a program of Brethren, Quaker and Mennonite
Churches. CPT P. O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680 tel. 773-277-0253; Fax:
773-277-0291, E-Mail cpt@igc.org WEB www.cpt.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jun 02 2003 - 09:11:18 EDT