URGENT ALERT UPDATE: Minnesota activists appealing denial of entry to Israel

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 Chicago

Email: contactus@chicago.mfa.gov.il

Phone: 312-297-4800
Fax: 312-297-4855