UPDATE:
Women Against Military Madness has enormous concern that WAMM member Sarah
Martin who is a much beloved and respected, dedicated justice and peace
activist, and Katrina Plotz, also a cherished and respected member of the
justice and peace community in Minneapolis, are being held in an Israeli
jail and threatened with imminent deportation. The sole reason for the
deportation is that they came to Israel to learn about the Palestinian
people who are confined and isolated by the Israeli government in the
Territories--in conditions deliberately concealed from international
scrunity. It is important to contact Israeli officials as soon as possible
to demand that their case against deportation be allowed to be heard in
court. SEE MORE INFO BELOW AND MAKE THE CALLS LISTED!! Also updates will be
posted on the Antiwar Committee's website, www.antiwarcommittee.org
Israeli security forces have refused entry to three U.S. solidarity
activists. They are being treated as criminals, while their only goal was to
learn about the reality of life for the Palestinian people. Sarah Martin and
Katrina Plotz have refused voluntary deportation, and are appealing their
case to the Israeli courts. Their case will be heard today, and we urge
supporters to take the actions below.
Thousands of people have been denied entry by Israel, especially those who
wish to see the Palestinian Territories. Not only international solidarity
activists, but millions of Palestinian refugees living all over the world
are prevented from returning to their homeland. Israel's policy of denying
entry to people who support the Palestinian struggle and want to report on
the situation, is one aspect of a campaign to isolate the Palestinian people
from the world. This campaign includes hundreds military checkpoints inside
the Palestinian Territories, blocking humanitarian shipments into the Gaza
Strip, and the building of a massive Apartheid Wall. Palestinians
experience repression every day.
Precisely because the official Israeli view receives much more widespread
coverage in the U.S. media than does the impact of these policies on the
lives of Palestinians, it is important that people like Sarah and Katrina be
able to go and report the situation accurately, and show the Palestinian
people that the world has not completely abandoned them.
In spite of its special relationship with the U.S., the Israeli government
showed no regard for the rights of American visitors, whose only crime was
to express solidarity with the people of occupied Palestine. Katrina and
Sarah have refused to cooperate in the face of this injustice, and they need
our support.
Thank you for the messages you may have sent earlier today. We urge you to
keep the pressure on. Please call, write and fax the officials below to
demand the immediate release for Katrina Plotz and Sarah Martin, and to urge
Israeli authorities to allow them entry:
US Embassy in Tel Aviv
AMCTELAVIV@state.gov
011-972-3-519-7551
Israeli Ministry of Interior
ph - 011-972-2-629-4722
fax - 011-972-2-670-1628
sar@mfa.gov.il
Israeli Consulate in ChicagoEmail: contactus@chicago.mfa.gov.il
Phone: 312-297-4800
Fax: 312-297-4855
Comments
Sarah Martin
These two women are part of the community that I live in. I understand that they are being jailed and detained as criminals in Israel for flying to Israel with the intention of entering the Palestian territories. That is their only crime. When did access to information and travel with the intent to openly learn first hand about conditions in other peoples' lives become a crime?
It is deeply disturbing to me as a U.S. citizen that the State Department could stand by as such an international violation towards two other U.S. citizens takes place.
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