Israeli To Arrest And Expell All ISM and International Peace Activists
haarezt(via-ceri) | 02.05.2003 14:23
(this was just published on the Ha'aretz website)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/289437.html
Israel will from now on bar pro-Palestinian activists from entering the
country and will try to expel at least some of the dozens of activists
who
are already here, according a new plan drafted by the Israel Defense
Forces
and the foreign and defense ministries.
Most of the activists, who come from Europe, Canada and the United
States,
belong to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Their goal is to act as "human shields" for Palestinian individuals and
houses during IDF incursions into Palestinian towns, and they have
often been
involved in confrontations with IDF soldiers. They also try to help
Palestinians pass through IDF roadblocks.
Some two months ago, an American ISM activist, Rachel Corrie, was run
over
and killed by an IDF bulldozer in Gaza. Her colleagues accused the
bulldozer
driver of having run her over deliberately. The IDF denies the
accusation and
decided not to indict the driver. In two other recent cases,
international
activists have been seriously injured by IDF gunfire during
confrontations in
the territories.
Israel Radio on Friday quoted British news agencies as saying that the
two
men involved in the suicide bombing at Mike's Place in Tel Aviv late
Tuesday
night had entered Israel earlier in the day in a cab that passed
through the
Erez Crossing. The two had taken part in actions carried out by peace
activists in the Gaza Strip.
In the first sign of the new crackdown, a member of ISM was detained by
Israeli troops in the southern Gaza refugee camp Rafah on Thursday.
Military sources said the woman activist was sleeping in a house
suspected of
concealing one of the tunnels used by militants to smuggle arms from
nearby
Egypt, and her case was being handled by the Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment
and the
ISM said it would release a statement later in the day on the new
Israeli
measures.
The IDF charges that many of the self-proclaimed peace activists are
"provocateurs" and "riot inciters" who deliberately interfere with the
IDF's
work, with the goal of blackening Israel's image. Army sources noted
that in
one case, they discovered a wanted terrorist being hidden by ISM
activists in
Jenin. The sources said the activists received training overseas in how
to
deceive border control officials at Ben-Gurion International Airport in
order
to be allowed into the country.
Furthermore, both the army and the Foreign Ministry fear that
additional
foreign citizens might be killed or wounded by the IDF if the ISM's
activities are allowed to continue.
Wednesday's bombing in Tel Aviv, which was committed by two men who
entered
Israel on British passports, added a new reason to the authorities'
desire to
clamp down on the foreign activists - fear that other terrorists from
overseas might enter the country under the guise of peace activists.
IDF and Foreign Ministry officials held another meeting on the subject
this
week and decided to instruct border control officials at Ben-Gurion and
the
land crossings with Egypt and Jordan to bar foreign activists from
entering
the country. In addition, IDF officers who encounter such activists in
closed
military areas will be ordered to arrest them, after which they will be
deported.
On Thursday, the IDF arrested a foreign activist during its search for
arms
smuggling tunnels in the Gazan town of Rafah. Army sources said the
woman was
inside a house that was slated for demolition. The woman was later
released
and allowed to remain in the country, though she was barred from
returning to
Gaza.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/289437.html Israel will from now on bar pro-Palestinian activists from entering the
country and will try to expel at least some of the dozens of activists
who
are already here, according a new plan drafted by the Israel Defense
Forces
and the foreign and defense ministries.
Most of the activists, who come from Europe, Canada and the United
States,
belong to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Their goal is to act as "human shields" for Palestinian individuals and
houses during IDF incursions into Palestinian towns, and they have
often been
involved in confrontations with IDF soldiers. They also try to help
Palestinians pass through IDF roadblocks.
Some two months ago, an American ISM activist, Rachel Corrie, was run
over
and killed by an IDF bulldozer in Gaza. Her colleagues accused the
bulldozer
driver of having run her over deliberately. The IDF denies the
accusation and
decided not to indict the driver. In two other recent cases,
international
activists have been seriously injured by IDF gunfire during
confrontations in
the territories.
Israel Radio on Friday quoted British news agencies as saying that the
two
men involved in the suicide bombing at Mike's Place in Tel Aviv late
Tuesday
night had entered Israel earlier in the day in a cab that passed
through the
Erez Crossing. The two had taken part in actions carried out by peace
activists in the Gaza Strip.
In the first sign of the new crackdown, a member of ISM was detained by
Israeli troops in the southern Gaza refugee camp Rafah on Thursday.
Military sources said the woman activist was sleeping in a house
suspected of
concealing one of the tunnels used by militants to smuggle arms from
nearby
Egypt, and her case was being handled by the Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment
and the
ISM said it would release a statement later in the day on the new
Israeli
measures.
The IDF charges that many of the self-proclaimed peace activists are
"provocateurs" and "riot inciters" who deliberately interfere with the
IDF's
work, with the goal of blackening Israel's image. Army sources noted
that in
one case, they discovered a wanted terrorist being hidden by ISM
activists in
Jenin. The sources said the activists received training overseas in how
to
deceive border control officials at Ben-Gurion International Airport in
order
to be allowed into the country.
Furthermore, both the army and the Foreign Ministry fear that
additional
foreign citizens might be killed or wounded by the IDF if the ISM's
activities are allowed to continue.
Wednesday's bombing in Tel Aviv, which was committed by two men who
entered
Israel on British passports, added a new reason to the authorities'
desire to
clamp down on the foreign activists - fear that other terrorists from
overseas might enter the country under the guise of peace activists.
IDF and Foreign Ministry officials held another meeting on the subject
this
week and decided to instruct border control officials at Ben-Gurion and
the
land crossings with Egypt and Jordan to bar foreign activists from
entering
the country. In addition, IDF officers who encounter such activists in
closed
military areas will be ordered to arrest them, after which they will be
deported.
On Thursday, the IDF arrested a foreign activist during its search for
arms
smuggling tunnels in the Gazan town of Rafah. Army sources said the
woman was
inside a house that was slated for demolition. The woman was later
released
and allowed to remain in the country, though she was barred from
returning to
Gaza.
haarezt(via-ceri)
Homepage:
www.palsolidarity.org
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
Expulsion of ISM
02.05.2003 23:07
bassman
Nodboss
02.05.2003 23:11
bassman
Israel Cracking Down on Foreign Peace Activis
03.05.2003 09:38
Reuters • Agence France Presse
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 3 May 2003 - Israel is stepping up the detention and
deportation of pro-Palestinian foreign peace activists and will try to block new
“human shields” from entering the country, Israeli security sources said
yesterday.
“These foreigners, for all their good intentions, end up being used as cover for
terrorism,” one source said. “An added concern now is that terrorists could try
to enter Israel under the guise of ‘peace activist’.”
British newspapers reported that a British Muslim suicide bomber who killed
three people at a Tel Aviv nightclub on Wednesday and a suspected British
accomplice who fled had posed as peace activists when they crossed between Gaza
and Israel.
In the first sign of the new crackdown, a member of the pro-Palestinian
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was detained by Israeli troops in the
southern Gaza refugee camp Rafah on Thursday.
Military sources said the woman activist was sleeping in a house suspected of
concealing one of the tunnels used by militants to smuggle arms from nearby
Egypt, and her case was being handled by the Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment and the
ISM said it would release a statement later in the day on the new Israeli
measures. The ISM positions foreign activists as “human shields” around the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, where the Israeli Army is confronting a 31-month-old
Palestinian uprising for statehood. Pursuing their arrest on a large scale in
Palestinian areas would require special incursions by the Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, Syria prepared yesterday to host US Secretary of State Colin Powell
amid mounting US pressure to end its support for “terrorist” groups, keeping
open the door open for dialogue but making clear it would not compromise on
certain issues.
Powell, due to arrive in Damascus later in the day, is to press Damascus to
consider deep US concerns about alleged support for “terrorist” groups and the
pursuit of chemical weapons in the light of the changes in the region. While
rejecting the charges, Syria has tried to redirect the focus to the Israeli
occupation of Arab lands, which it considers the root of all problems in the
region.
The United States has also demanded that Syria “dismantle” the Lebanese
Hezbollah resistance movement, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was
quoted as saying in an Israeli newspaper yesterday. “At every opportunity, we
have asked Syria to stop supporting terrorism, dismantle Hezbollah, close the
headquarters of terrorist groups in Damascus and end the threat posed to Israel
from rockets in south Lebanon,” Rice said, in remarks published in Hebrew in the
Yediot Aharonot daily.
Rice was referring to the positions in south Lebanon held by the Iranian and
Syrian-backed Hezbollah, which led the resistance to Israel’s 22-year occupation
of the area which ended in May 2000. Aside from frequent violations of Lebanon’s
airspace by Israeli warplanes, which draw ineffective anti-aircraft fire from
Hezbollah, the Lebanon-Israel border has been largely quiet since the Israeli
pullout.
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