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You are here: Frontpage > News > Call to action: Israel detains human rights activist as security risk (UPDATED 1 NOVEMBER)

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29-Oct-2004

Call to action: Israel detains human rights activist as security risk (UPDATED 1 NOVEMBER)

by: INTERNATIONAL WOMENS PEACE SERVICE

Angie Zelter, library image.
PHOTO: PN/Cynthia Cockburn ,

Israel: UPDATE 1 November 2004
PN received confirmation this morning that Angie has now been returned to Britain

Original story
Angie Zelter (also known as Angela Julian), a prominent nonviolent peace and human rights activist from the United Kingdom is currently being held for deportation by the Israeli Authorities in a cell at Ben Gurion airport, Israel.
Zelter, a founding member of the Trident Ploughshares and the International Womens Peace Service arrived at Ben Gurion airport on Sunday, 24 October. Zelter was detained and interrogated by Israeli authorities for over 12 hours, before being denied entry to the country. She was detained as a security risk,placed in a holding cell at the airport police station, and told that she could be held seven days before being put on a flight back to Britain.
Zelter is a long-time British peace and justice activist and is a veteran of the womens peace camp at Greenham Common against nuclear missles and militarism.

In 1996, Zelter, along with three other women, disarmed a British Aerospace Hawk fighter jet destined for sale to Indonesia for use against the civilian population of East Timor. Zelter and the three women were acquitted of all charges.

Zelter was recently the focus of a documentary, The Loch Long Monster,about the work of the Trident Ploughshares. In 2001, the Right Livelihood award, also known as the alternative Nobel Prize, was awarded to Zelter and the Trident Ploughshares, along with Israeli peace activists and founders of Gush Shalom, Uri and Rachel Avnery. Other prominent recipiants of the award include Israeli peace activists, Felicia Langer and Mordechai Vanunu, as well as other prominent human rights activists such as Walden Bello, Ken Saro-Wiwa and Vandana Shiva.

In 2003, Zelter was denied entry to Israel and declared person-non-gratia by the Israeli government. She was forcibly removed from the country on New Years Day. The reason given by the Israeli Authorities for denying Zelter entry in 2003 and in 2004 is her non-violent peace activities on behalf of the Palestinian people. On both occasion, the Israeli Authorities deemed Zelter to be a security risk.
Zelter's denial of entry and detention reveals that Israel does not adhere to the rule of law in its policies towards nonviolent internationals who support justice for Palestinians.

Please take action by:

1. Contacting the Israeli Embassy in your country and object to Angie;s treatment, denial of entry and detention.

2. Phone, fax and/or email the Israeli government to object to Angie's treatment, denial of entry and deportation

3. Organise a picket of the Israeli embassy in your city or country to object to Angie's treatment, denial of entry and detention.

Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister, Israel
pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
tel +972 2 6705 555; fax +972 2 651 2631

Silvan Shalom
Israeli Foreign Minister
sar@mfa.gov.il
tel +972 2 530 3111; fax +972 2 530 3367

Yoav Biran
Director-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
mankal@mfa.gov.il

For background information:

http://www.tridentploughshares.org/
http://www.rightlivelihood.se
INTERNATIONAL WOMENS PEACE SERVICE
IWPS (+972) (0)9 251 6644l; email iwps@palnet.com; http://www.iwps.info/).

Source: International Women's Peace Service