HEBRON, September 27, 2009 (WAFA)- Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) activists  were denied entry by the Israeli authorities at Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv.

CPT said on Friday  the Israeli authorities at Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv, denied entry to a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). Sean O'Neill, a US citizen, was informed that the denial of entry was ordered by Israel's Ministry of Interior. In response to enquiries from O'Neill's lawyer the Israeli authorities stated that the ban was due to a court appearance in March 2009, despite the fact that no charge was brought against O'Neill.

On 8 March, O'Neill and another member of CPT, Joe Wyse (who was also denied entry earlier this month), were videotaping Jewish settlers who were constructing a road on privately-owned Palestinian land near Karmel settlement, in the South Hebron Hills.

When the Palestinian landowners and CPTers approached the work area, an Israeli settlement security guard began to shout and demand that they leave. The landowners remained and requested that the CPTers videotape the work being undertaken on their land. The police arrived at this point and the settlement security guard told them to detain the CPTers.

The Israeli police did so and the CPTers were held overnight at Kiryat Arba police station in Hebron. The following day they were taken to court in Jerusalem.  The police requested an extension of their detention to allow further time to investigate the claim that the CPTers had obstructed a police officer, but an Israeli judge found no justification for their detention and ordered that they be released immediately without charge.

Israeli police frequently arrests Palestinian shepherds or internationals accompanying them at the request of Israeli settlers. Palestinians arrested in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are tried in Israeli military courts. A 2007 report, ‘Backyard Proceedings’, published by the Israeli group Yesh Din, found that there were “severe shortcomings and failures in the implementation of due process rights in the military judicial system operating in the OPT.”

As of July 2009, Israel was holding almost 400 Palestinians in administrative detention – detention without charge or trial.  At the same time, illegal Israeli settlers frequently commit crimes of violence against Palestinians and internationals with impunity.