By CPTnet
Those who have been following CPTnet for the last few months have
read stories about Israeli border authorities denying Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT) volunteers entry into Palestine. Over the summer,
they turned back two reservists from the airport in the same week.
Since then, two more CPTers, Jonathan Brenneman and Patrick Thomas, have
been denied entry crossing the border from Jordan into the West Bank.
Brenneman attempted three times within the space of three weeks and
was told the Israeli authorities would not allow him to enter the West
Bank because of his involvement with Christian Peacemaker Teams.
In response to requests from CPT’s partner organizations in Palestine
and Israel, CPT Palestine has been devising a strategy to ensure CPTers
are able to enter the country. A major part of this strategy is a case
that CPT’s lawyers have put together for the Israeli courts.
The
case charges that the Israeli authorities, without informing CPT, have
established an unreasonable policy that denies members of CPT the right
to enter the occupied Palestinian territories (as the border authorities
explained to Brenneman), even though they have an invitation from the
municipality of Hebron/Al-Khalil and other Palestinian organizations to
do so. This action violates several of Israel’s basic laws including the
Law of Freedom and Dignity and the right of the accused to have their
case heard in court. The Interior Ministry denied CPT’s right to be
heard when it enacted this policy without CPT’s knowledge; by doing so,
the Interior Ministry gave CPTers no chance to defend themselves. The
policy is also unreasonable in that it implies that individuals cannot
enter the country because they believe in peace. Therefore, even though
the Ministry of Interior has broad discretion to make policies regarding
entry of internationals into Israel and the occupied Palestinian
territories, those policies must not contradict Israel’s basic laws.
Anyone
who has traveled to Palestine knows the challenges the Israeli
authorities raise for anyone attempting to form relationships with
Palestinians and to learn about their experiences living under military
occupation. Israel has not explicitly stated a policy of discrimination
against those who are fraternizing with Palestinians and working for
peace in the Palestine/Israel context, so no one has been able to
challenge it. Therefore, the main thrust of the case is to make Israel
say explicitly what it is doing regarding the denial of entries at the
border, or to stop doing it. Either the courts will say that they oppose
allowing internationals who are working for peace to enter Palestine,
or they have to stop denying entry to people for that reason.
--
Christian Peacemaker Teams was founded with help from the Historic
Peace Churches including the Church of the Brethren. For more
information go to www.cpt.org.
Source: 2/8/2014 Newsline
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