US Peace Activist to Appear in Israeli Court Thurs

U.S. Peace Activist to Appear in Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday

U.S. Peace Activist to Appear in Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday Israeli MK requests meeting with GSS Director, Avi Dichter over policy

[Jerusalem] American peace activist Ann Petter who has been detained since June 23 at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport will appear on Thursday, July 15, at 9 a.m. before Judge Matza at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem (Sha'arei Mishpat Street, Kiryat Ben Gurion, near Sacher Park). Petter was charged with being a security threat to the State of Israel. She will be represented by lawyers Leah Tsemel and Yael Berda.

Since Petter's detention, two more activists have been denied entry into Israel and are locked up in a holding cell at Ben Gurion airport: Christine Grefer, a 46-year-old social studies teacher from Holland and Jamie Spector, 32, a Jewish-American social worker from San Francisco. It is rare for the Jewish state to ban a Jew from entering.

Today, Israeli Member of Knesset, Roman Bronfman, visited the three ladies in their holding cell and informed them of his efforts to protest the policy of denying ISM volunteers and other peace activists entry into the country. Bronfman has asked for a meeting with the Director of Israel’s Security Services, Avi Dichter. Also, in a letter to the Attorney General, Bronfman asks what is the “security threat” that Ann, Jaime and Christine pose, stating that the real threat to Israel is coming from the right, not the left.

Ann Petter is a 44-year old graphic designer from New York who planned to attend a nonviolent peace march organized by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Petter arrived in Israel with a video camera; she intended to document the work of Palestinian, Israeli, and international peace activists, one of whom is 79-year old Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein.

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