International Solidarity Movement
Chicago chapter
P.O. Box 220685,
Chicago, IL 60622
ISMinChicago (at) aol.com
773-489-3505

*****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE******

Contact: Alex Lundberg (612) 872-4995
Pat O’Connor (212) 665-4936

ELGIN NATIVE, JEWISH-AMERICAN PEACE ACTIVIST JAILED UPON ENTRY INTO ISRAEL PLANS TO FIGHT DEPORTATION

Flo Razowsky, Elgin, Illinois native, Minneapolis resident, and long-time peace activist, was jailed and denied entry into Israel upon arrival of her flight today at Ben Gurion airport. Ms. Razowsky attended Larkin High School in Elgin, Illinois, where her parents still live. This would be her third visit to Palestine as an international peace activist and independent journalist.

Ms. Razowsky is currently being held in a detention cell at the airport. Ms. Razowsky and her lawyer contest the grounds for deportation and plan to fight it. Despite repeated efforts to renew her visa last year, Israeli authorities have cited her yearlong stay in Palestine/Israel in 2004 as illegal and plan to deport her tomorrow. Her denial of entry into Israel and the Occupied Territories is not only unwarranted, but effects a growing community of people in the Twin Cities who closely follow her work and depend on her eye witness accounts.

As a Jewish woman raised with the religious education of Mitzvah (good deeds), it is my duty to participate in the process towards peace between Israel and Palestine. Ms. Razowsky commented from her cell just before her phone was taken from her. Talk of peace cannot happen while one involved party is occupying the other. I am here to voice the concern that the occupation needs to end before peace can even be thought about.

The ISM has documented that over the past three years more than 130 international activists have been denied entry to Israel and the Occupied Territories by Israeli authorities. More than 70 international activists have been deported during the same period. None of these internationals have ever been found to be involved in violent activities in any way.

During a time when Israel is making moves to disengage settlements from the Gaza Strip and lessen its military presence in the West Bank, the denial of entry of non-violent peace workers only stands to prove the insincerity of their words, said Meg Novak of the Palestinian Solidarity Coalition. Additionally two Swedish filmmakers were also detained upon arrival today at Ben Gurion airport for deportation. They were on their way to document the Israeli occupation.

Ms. Razowsky, a Chicago native, has resided in Minneapolis since 1999. She has spent 14 months in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories since August 2002 working with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led non-violent direct-action group opposed to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Upon returning to the Twin Cities in March of last year, Ms. Razowsky continued to advocate the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Her efforts have not been unfruitful. Last summer she played a crucial role in the founding of the Palestinian Solidarity Coalition (PSC). The coalition, including such diverse groups as the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Women Against Military Madness, reflects growing public consensus for Israeli withdrawal from Palestine

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