PRESS RELEASE
SWEDISH CULTURAL CONSULTANTS DEPORTED FROM ISRAEL
On Thursday, 21 August 2003, nine Swedish consultants representing various cultural fields and cultural centres, as well the Swedish international development cooperation agency (Sida), landed at Ben Gurion airport to begin their one-week visit to Palestine and, in particular, Bethlehem at the invitation of the Bethlehem Peace Center (BPC).
Upon their arrival in Israel, six of the nine consultants were taken into Police custody at the airport where they were subjected to intense questioning and were asked to sign a disclaimer if they were to be permitted to enter Israel.
The (handwritten) disclaimer stated that the consultants could only enter Israeli if they did not travel to Bethlehem as this would require a special authorization from the Israeli military authorities. A violation of this travel ban would result in the deportation of the consultant and a ban to travel to Israel for ten years.
In spite of direct intervention through the Swedish Consulate in Jerusalem and the Swedish Embassy in Tel Aviv with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior on behalf of its citizens, Israeli authorities did not back down from this position and insisted that the consultants sign the disclaimer or face deportation.
Five of the consultants refused to sign the disclaimer and were forced to spend the night in a locked cell at Ben Gurion airport like common criminals. Their mobile phones were confiscated over night. This morning at 0530 hours, the consultants were driven directly from their prison to the airplane under police escort where they boarded a plane to take them back to Sweden. Their passports were returned to them only once they were on the airplane.
The sixth consultant, a naturalized Swede of Iranian origin, signed the disclaimer, but left Israel today for fear of persecution.
The Bethlehem Peace Center, on behalf of all the ordinary and well-meaning citizens of Bethlehem and Palestine, protest the deportation of the Swedish cultural consultants in the strongest possible terms and wish to unveil the shame of the Israeli authorities in their efforts of undermine Palestinian civil society yet again.
The objective of the visit, which was organized by BPC in coordination with the Swedish Consulate in Jerusalem and Sida, was to meet and exchange ideas with a number of prestigious cultural institutions in the West Bank, including the Bethlehem Peace Center, the International Center of Bethlehem, the Arab Women’s Union, the Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation, National Conservatory of Music, the A.M. Qattan Foundation, the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, Yabous and many others.
By no conceivable standard was this group of Swedish consultants in any way a threat to the security of the State of Israel and by no international or local legal standard did their arrival in Israel warrant their questioning, imprisonment or deportation.
Their aim was to offer support and to help strengthen cultural life in Palestine as a fundamental cornerstone of its incipient civil society.
The treatment and ultimate deportation of the Swedish cultural ambassadors is more revealing of Israel’s attempts to paralyze all Palestinian efforts to build a viable, civilized country than it is of any alleged Palestinian efforts to nurture terrorism.
Bethlehem Peace Center
Bethlehem, Palestine
22 August 2003
The Management
Bethlehem Peace Center
Manger Square
P.O. Box 1166
Tel: 276-6677
Fax:274-1057