On 5 May, Israeli immigration officials at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv interrogated then deported CPTer John Bergen, banning him from re-entering the country for ten years. They claimed to have photos of Bergen at demonstrations and demanded to know the names of Palestinians at the protests, an order with which Bergen would not comply.
Bergen, from Kansas, USA was returning to start his second stint with CPT-Palestine in Hebron. He joined CPT full-time last September and served several months with CPT-Iraqi Kurdistan before going to Palestine.
“It is difficult to express the mixture of anger, grief, loss, and uncertainty that comes with the denial of access to [those] I have grown to love in the few short months I worked in Hebron,” Bergen said. You can read Bergen’s full reflection on his experience at http://goo.gl/yM8evF.