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MICHIGAN PEACE TEAM MEMBER DETAINED BY ISRAELI MILITARY IN HEBRON, WEST BANK
Phone: (517) 484 3178
Fax: (517) 484-4219
Email: michiganpeaceteam@comcast.net
Website: www.michiganpeaceteam.org
Fr. C. Peter Dougherty: 517-484-3178
For Immediate
Release:
James Coady, a member of the Michigan Peace Team (MPT), was briefly detained by
the Israeli military Wednesday April 25 in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Coady, along with MPT member Karen Donahue and other internationals, had been
observing and intervening as Israeli soldiers held up Palestinians who were
walking near the Ibrahim Mosque, and had also intervened as Israeli settlers
were throwing stones at Palestinians while the Israeli military stood by and
watched, doing nothing. Coady and Donahue used a video camera to document this
behavior of the settlers and the soldiers.
In response to this international intervention, the soldiers later in the
morning stopped every international human rights worker and wrote down their
passport numbers. When they did come to Coady, who for awhile had evaded the
soldiers, they called to him and said they needed to "check him." When he asked
if he was being arrested, they said "we just want to talk to you." They drove
away with him in a military vehicle.
As the internationals and a Palestinian-led human rights organization were
trying to find out where Coady was taken and were deciding if an urgent action
appeal was needed, Coady soon returned to the internationals' apartment, having
been released.
"Just another wonderful day in a police state. It is all such madness," quipped
Donahue.
Two other MPT members, Martha Larsen and Loretta Johnston, are staying in the
Jordan Valley with a Bedouin family to help prevent the demolition of their home
by the Israeli military.
MPT, which now has a continual team presence in the West Bank, works with
Israelis, Palestinians, and other internationals to reduce violence in the
Occupied Territories and create space for those in the conflict to work for a
just resolution of the conflict.
Michigan Peace Team was founded in 1993. It provides trainings in active
nonviolence designed for the specific needs of the participants, and deploys
peace teams into places of conflict (both domestically and internationally) to
reduce violence. MPT convenes, supports, and participates with local peace
action groups and gatherings, and mentors individuals seeking experience with
international teams in places of conflict. It also educates the public to the
vision and practice of active nonviolence. MPT has deployed peace teams into
areas of potential violence around the world.
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"Michigan Peace Team is a nonprofit organization that pursues peace
through active
nonviolence in places of conflict."
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