CPTnet
19 September 2014
AL-KHALIL (HEBRON): Israeli military denies entry to third
CPTer in three months
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| Brenneman in olive tree |
On Tuesday, 17 September full-time CPTer Jonathan Brenneman
was turned away at the Allenby border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank
The Israeli authorities detained and questioned Brenneman
for over seven hours before eventually sending him back to Jordan.
When the Hebron team spoke to Brenneman, he had been waiting
on the bridge for seven hours. At
the end of the conversation, Israeli security called him over.
During the process, Brenneman explained to the Israeli Border Patrol that he
had come to Israel-Palestine to work with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in
Hebron.
“It’s always a risk to get back in, especially for those of us who come
multiple times in a year,” said Brenneman regarding his denial of entry. “This was my fourth time.”
The Border Patrol called the commander of the Israeli military in Hebron to ask
him about Christian Peacemaker Teams, and then told Brenneman they were denying
him entry for “security reasons.”
Brenneman said, “They did not give me a primary reason, but on my passport
there is a stamp that grants me entry, and above is the stamp that denied me
entry, so I think they were very close to letting me in. They did contact a military commander in
Hebron, and I was denied entry right after that conversation.”
The Border Patrol instructed him to go to Israeli Embassy in Jordan, and said he
needs to have a letter from CPT stating what the organization does in Israel-Palestine—which
he received the following day.
Brenneman will be staying in Jordan trying to work on
returning to CPT Palestine.
In July, Israel denied entry to two CPT Reservists, interrogating them for ten and fourteen hours respectively before sending them back.
