Jewish American peace activist jailed upon entry into Israel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jewish American peace activist jailed upon entry into Israel
March 5, 2005

K. Flo Razowsky, a Minneapolis, Minnesota resident and long-time peace
activist, was jailed and denied entry into Israel upon arrival of her
flight today at Ben Gurion airport. Israeli authorities have said they
will deport Ms. Razowsky on a 5:00 AM flight on Saturday. She plans to
non-violently resist her deportation.

Ms. Razowsky, has spent 14 months in Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian Territories since August 2002 working with the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led nonviolent
movement opposed to the Israeli occupation Palestine. This would be
Ms. Razowsky's third visit to the region as an international peace
activist and independent journalist.

In March 2004, Ms.Razowsky was arrested by the Israeli military while
participating with Palestinians and Israelis in a non-violent
demonstration against the Wall that Israel is building on Palestinian
land deep within the West Bank. The construction of the Wall on
Palestinian land was ruled a violation of international law by the
International Court of Justice, the world's highest legal body.

"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
detention cell at Ben Gurion airport 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."

Despite repeated efforts to renew her visa last year, Israeli
authorities have cited her yearlong stay in Israel in 2004 as illegal.
Ms. Razowsky and her lawyer contest the grounds for deportation and
plan to fight it in Israeli court.

ISM has documented more than 130 international activists who have been
denied entry to Israel and the Occupied Territories by Israeli
authorities over the past three years. More than 70 international
activists have been deported during the same period. Most of these
international activists were involved in peaceful protests against
Israel's Wall.

Additionally, thousands of Palestinian, international and Israeli
activists have been wounded by the Israeli military while
participating in nonviolent protests during the current intifada. Six
Palestinians were killed during anti-wall protests in the West Bank
and two ISM activists, Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall, were killed by
the Israeli military in Rafah in 2003. Last Monday, Israel's Supreme
Court ordered that the army must reopen its investigation into the
shooting of American ISM activist Brian Avery.

*Photo available upon request.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
ISM Media: +972 546 326 392 or +972 59 871 055
Alex Lundberg (in U.S.): +1 612 872 4995