The Irish Peace activist – who won her Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work bringing peace to Northern Ireland – arrived at the Tel Aviv airport yesterday morning from Frankfurt Airport. Airport authorities allowed Maguire’s travel companion and colleague, Ann Patterson, into the country. Both women were coming to Israel and occupied Palestinian territories as part of a women’s peace delegation organised by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, a global organisation co-founded by Maguire and five sister Nobel Peace Laureates.
MP Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative condemned Israeli decision to prevent Ms Maguire to enter Israeli and consequently the Palestinian territories. “The decision to refuse entry to Mr Maguire is based on illegitimate and arbitrary political considerations”. “She has always been active in a peaceful and non-violent way”, said Barghouthi emphasizing Maguire’s efforts in showing her solidarity to the Palestinians and their peaceful resistance against Israeli occupation. “She has dedicated all her life to peace and of course she does not represent a threat to Israel’s security. Maguire’s denied entry is another step carried out by Israel to suppress any critical voice of israeli policy towards the Palestinians”.
Ms Maguire was supposed to take part into the conference “We Can Change”, a conference on empowering Palestinian women capacity building, which will be held tomorrow in Ramallah.
Last June, Maguire was detained after Israeli naval commandos intercepted and illegally boarded the Irish cargo ship MV Rachel Corrie, in international waters. The ship’s passengers included Maguire, former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday and other Irish and Malaysian activists. The MV Rachel Corrie – named for a young American peace activist who was bulldozed to death by the Israeli military – was the last remaining vessel of the Gaza Freedom flotilla, a 40-nation effort to break through Israel’s illegal blockade. Nine people were killed the previous week when Israeli military navy boarded the Mavi Marmara, one of the vessels taking part in the flotilla. On that occasion, Israeli officials sent Maguire back to Ireland after holding her several days in a detention center outside of Tel Aviv.