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| British lawyer refused entry to Israel
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LONDON (EJP)--- A British lawyer and campaigner for war crimes charges against Israeli army officers has been refused entry into Israel.
Human rights lawyer, Kate Maynard, who works for London firm Hickman and Rose, had been scheduled to speak last week at a conference in East Jerusalem organised by Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF), a Brussels based non-governmental organisation that promotes civil, political and social rights.
Last Wednesday Maynard was questioned at Heathrow Airport in London then detained by Israeli authorities on arrival at Ben Gurion Airport on the grounds that she represented a security threat.
Accusations
Maynard has been involved with efforts to try Israeli army officers for alleged war crimes. Last September, together with partner Danny Machover, she submitted a lawsuit against Major-General Doron Almog accusing him of “war crimes”.
Almog arrived in London, on a fundraising trip for his charity ‘Aleh Negev’, a facility for disabled children. Following a warning from the Israeli Embassy, he remained on the plane and returned to Israel. An arrest warrant had been issued and British detectives were waiting to arrest him on alleged charges of the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza in 2002.
Maynard was denied entry to Israel and detained pending deportation. Assisted by ASF, her colleagues in London and Israeli lawyer, Smadar Ben Natan, her team appealed to the Tel Aviv district court.
In the appeal, Ben Natan wrote: “There is no legitimate reason to prevent the petitioner’s entry into Israel. Her professional work is well-known and put to legitimate use, even if it is not popular in Israel, or in the eyes of the British legal system and the international legal world.”
“It is inconceivable that her entry would be limited strictly because her professional work is not admired by Israeli authorities,” she added.
Judge Avraham Tal, from the Tel Aviv district court, ruled that she did not represent a threat to security and recommended to allow her entry. However, as it was only a recommendation, Israeli immigration authorities were able to overrule it and since the conference was due to end the following day, Maynard returned to the UK last Thursday.
Government appeal
Hickman and Rose have appealed to the UK government to raise the case with their Israeli counterparts and to the European Union to deny access of “suspected Israeli war criminals, in particular settlers” to EU countries.
A statement released by Hickman and Rose said: “Teams of international lawyers from various jurisdictions have for some time been preparing evidence files against suspected Israeli war criminals. The Almog case demonstrated the serious intent in achieving justice for Palestinian victims.”
“The decision to deny Kate Maynard access to Israel is an obvious attempt to prevent this work from continuing and further cases being prepared. It is another example of Israel acting to secure impunity for alleged war crimes. It also constitutes an astonishing attack on Kate Maynard’s right to impart legal information to professional colleagues in the region, who are fighting against impunity, and their right to receive such information.”
In March an Israeli Brigadier-General, Aviv Kochavi, who was scheduled to study at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, cancelled his trip after he was warned by an Israeli army judge he could be arrested on arrival to Britain.
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