CPTnet
June 25, 2002
CHICAGO: CPTer Michael Goode refused entry to Israel

Chicago-based peacemaker Michael Goode was denied entry to Israel Sunday,
June 23. Goode expected to spend seven weeks with Christian Peacemaker
Teams in Israel and Palestine. But at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv he was
interrogated briefly by Israeli Interior Ministry officials, then detained
without access to US consular services, and finally ushered to a return
flight, with his passport stamped "Entry Denied" in red ink.

"I was looking forward to supporting my Israeli and Palestinian friends in
the peace movement," Goode told Rich Meyer, CPT-Hebron coordinator in a
phone interview. "They work together, under very difficult conditions,
and I want to encourage them. Their joint efforts build relationships that
save lives. The strength of their cooperation can interrupt this
discouraging arc of violence and bloodshed on both sides."

Goode says he was treated professionally and courteously while in detention,
apart from being denied the opportunity to make a phone call.
However, the authorities at Ben Gurion airport forced a Muslim family with
whom he had flown from Toronto to wait five hours while they processed
Goode and dozens of Italian peace activists who had flown in at the
invitation of the Israeli group, Gush Shalom. In the holding cell, Goode
met people whom the Israeli authorities had detained for days, some in
shackles. "I wonder how I would have been treated if I weren't white and
didn't have a U.S. passport," he told Meyer.

But given the chance, he would go back tomorrow. This trip would have been
Goode's third term
of service with Christian Peacemaker Teams.
  "It is my Christian duty to be
present, nonviolently, to be flexible, and to put my trust in God. I just
wish I could be there to support my friends," he said.

Regarding US policy, Goode said, "If President Bush is serious about peace,
then we need to look at the conditions of Palestinian people's lives.
Through our military aid to Israel, our country is contributing to cynicism,
anger and resentment. We need to re-examine how we are supporting the
Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. This cycle of violence, which
includes attacks on Israelis, has to stop."