Tervidytė third from right.
Lithuanian activist Gabrielė Tervidytė has been arrested in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv. 15min.lt published her “Diary from the West Bank” about life in the Palestinian territories and her work with children living in refugee camps. The Lithuanian woman was charged with endangering Israel’s national security and is to be deported.
The arrest was made Wednesday at Ben-Gurion International Airport.
The Lithuanian woman had travelled to Israel to stay with friends living there and was detained during a routine check by officials. After questioning she was deemed to pose a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.
“Nobody has made those charges more specific. As I understand it, this is the concept of vigilance, which is applied to everyone in similar circumstances,” Tervidytė’s mother Gabrielė said Thursday.
She said her daughter will be deported to Lithuania and will not be allowed to return to Israel. The travel ban will last for 10 years.
Under Israeli regulations these sorts of deportations have to be made on direct flights.
The next flight from Tel Aviv to Vilnius is scheduled for Sunday. The Lithuanian women will be held in a detention zone until then.
“But there are provisions that the person may pay for travel costs himself and in that case the person may choose another flight. It’s possible she will travel through another city and will get out of there earlier,” her mother speculated.
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry reported Wednesday Lithuanian embassy representatives in Israel were allowed to visit Tervidytė. “She had no complaints about the conditions of her confinement and did not request consular aid. Israeli officials said she would be returned to Lithuania quickly,” a briefing from the Foreign Ministry said.
The Israeli embassy in Lithuania had no information on Tervidytė’s detention. They recommended asking other Israeli institutions for further information.
Tervidytė’s mother said she wasn’t surprised by the incident because her daughter had been carrying out projects in the Palestinian territories recently. She said she had a feeling there could be problems with Israeli law enforcement.
Tervidytė’s latest project was carried out with Jonas Ohman, director of the Blue/Yellow organization, children’s psychiatrist and psychotherapist Linas Slušnys and the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry. About six months ago they were trying to help children living in West Bank refugee camps who were experiencing aggression and violence along with post-traumatic stress. Tervidytė wrote about this in her Diary from the West Bank series on 15min.lt
“The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry approved our project, so everything was fine there,” Ohman said. “To tell the truth, this incident surprised me. Of course I don’t know all the nuances, but it’s strange in any event.”
Tervidytė is the organizer and one of the directors of the Solidarūs su Palestina [In Solidarity with Palestine] group. The group formed several years ago and organized events designed to bring Lithuanian public attention to the problems of the Palestinians.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
