Ramallah:: The Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) today condemned the kidnapping of four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), and called for their immediate release without harm. PNI General Secretary, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, is due to speak at a demonstration against the kidnappings, to be held in Ramallah’s city centre at 15:00 today
Tom Fox (54), of America, Norman Kember (74) of Britain, and Canadians James Lonely (41) and Hameet Singh Sooden (32), in Iraq as part of CPT’s solidarity work with the Iraqi people, were kidnapped on 27 November.
Three of the men have also spent time in Palestine, working in solidarity with the Palestinian people and standing against Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine. Tom Fox worked with the CPT in Hebron, and risked his life in demonstrations against the construction of the Apartheid Wall in Jayyous by standing in front of Israeli bulldozers. James Lonely also worked with the CPT in Hebron in 2000. Hameet Sooden came to Palestine in December 2004 as part of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). He participated in solidarity activities with the Palestinian people in Nablus and Jenin, and was due to return to Palestine in December 2005 to continue his work with the ISM.
CPT maintains a permanent presence in Hebron at the request of local activists. Its work has been, and continues to be of critical importance in preventing human rights violations and in raising awareness of the problems faced by Palestinians living in the District. CPT-ers provide essential protection to ordinary Palestinians, from school children, to farmers and shepherds, and act as a physical buffer during the systematic harassment suffered by Palestinians living in the Hebron area at the hands of Israeli settlers and soldiers. As such, its members have been the victims of serious physical assault on several occasions. CPT-ers also play a key role in documenting and widely publicising human rights violations carried out by the Israeli army and settlers against Palestinian civilians.
CPT has been working in a similar capacity in Iraq since 2002. Prior to the US-led invasion, it supported the UN Weapons Inspection Program as an alternative to war, worked to expose the injustice and deaths from US-led economic sanctions, and to raise awareness throughout the world as to the plight of the Iraqi people. Following the invasion, CPT-ers acted as human shields, using their bodies to protect both Iraqi civilians and infrastructure such as hospitals, water treatment facilities, and electrical plants. They also act as an alternative information source to that of the mainstream media “embedded” with occupation forces.
Founded in 1984, CPT places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarised areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers. It embraces the vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peacemakers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through non-violent responses.