Interfaith leaders and advocates gathered Monday at a progressive Atlanta church to denounce Israel for denying entry to 13 American citizens who sought to visit the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Speaking during a press conference at Eastside Church, the group — which included four United Methodists along with other Christians, Jews and Muslims — said members were detained, refused entry and banned from returning for up to 10 years after trying to cross the Sheik Hussein Bridge into Israel from Jordan on Aug. 13.
Organizers said the action violates the U.S. visa waiver program, which lets citizens of participating countries travel to each other’s territory without a visa. They believe Israel wants to keep Americans and other foreigners from seeing conditions in the occupied territories.
“We believe that all people are created good and are beloved and are worthy of liberation and love in every setting,” said Eastside Church Pastor Anjie Peek Rivers, who welcomed the group. The church is historically known as Eastside United Methodist Church.
Rev. Edward Phillips, a retired Emory University theology professor and United Methodist minister who led the delegation, said the group wanted to visit Taybeh, an all-Christian village in the West Bank that the Israel Defense Forces have surrounded in an apparent effort to shield it from repeated attacks by Israeli settlers.
Over the past year, settlers have reportedly vandalized Taybeh, tried to burn down its church, torched cars and damaged olive groves by grazing cattle in them and setting them on fire, residents say. Israeli authorities have condemned the incidents, but no arrests have been made.
Phillips said the trip was coordinated “via contacts” with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in East Jerusalem, which promotes Palestinian Liberation Theology. Critics of the organization, including NGO Monitor, contend that it and its founder “employs antisemitic themes and imagery.” Phillips called Sabeel a “nonviolent resistance organization in the spirit of Jesus, Martin Luther King and Gandhi.”
“The Palestinian groups and persons we planned to meet follow this example,” he added.
Holding up an image of what he described as a “demolished home” the group had planned to visit in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem, Phillips said he quickly realized the trip would not go forward.
“My first inkling that there might be a problem occurred when I spoke to the agent at the immigration window,” he said. “The agent was quite interested in why I was leading a group of tourists that included so many diverse ages and ethnicities. ‘How do you know each other?’ she said. ‘Who do you work for? Why are you here during a war? What organizations are you associated with and so forth? Who are you planning to meet with?’”
After several exchanges with border agents, Phillips said the group received a denial of entry citing “prevention of illegal immigration considerations.” No further explanation was given.
“Nowhere does the document state what these considerations entailed. But I signed it acknowledging receipt along with many others,” he added.
Phillips said that after “more than a couple of hours” in detention, agents used “quite threatening language” and ordered the group to leave the terminal and board a bus without their passports. He claimed one agent told him, “This is what you deserve for lying to us. You came here to tell the world how badly we treat Christians.”
The passports were later returned.
Azka Mahmood, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Georgia, called the move “shocking, unjust, and illegal,” adding, “This denial of entry shows that Israel is not a trustworthy partner to the U.S.”
Mahmood contends that the Israeli government is “desperate to prevent American Christians and Jews from seeing the truth,” accusing Israel of apartheid. She urged the State Department to investigate.
In response, Friends of Sabeel North America launched a petition urging members of Congress to investigate any potential wrongdoing by the Israeli government.
The petition reads in part: “As people of faith and conscience, we believe that every person should be treated with dignity, fairness, and respect. We also believe that agreements between nations carry responsibilities — not only between governments, but toward the people whose rights and freedoms depend upon those commitments.”
