Israeli court rejects Nobel laureate’s appeal

Mairead Corrigan Maguire was detained at an airport lockup
earlier this week for violating the conditions of her ban imposed in June, when
she was aboard a Gaza-bound ship trying to breach the blockade.
At the time, Maguire was told she couldn’t return for 10
years except with special approval.
The district court rejected her appeal but gave her 48 hours
to allow time for a Supreme Court appeal.
Maguire, 66, is an outspoken champion of Palestinian
statehood. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work with Catholics
and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
Israel has banned other pro-Palestinian activists from
entering, including Jewish-American linguist Noam Chomsky in May. The
government later said that was a mistake.
In June, Maguire tried to reach Gaza aboard the Rachel
Corrie vessel that attempted to break Israel’s three-year naval blockade of
Gaza. After capturing that ship, Israel detained and deported her and other
activists on board.
That ship’s takeover followed a deadly Israeli raid in May
of another Gaza-bound ship - part of a Turkish flotilla - that sparked
international condemnation of Israel after its commandos killed nine Turkish
activists, one of them a dual Turkish-American citizen. Both sides claimed
self-defense.
Israel has since eased the embargo on the Palestinian
coastal strip, run by the militant Hamas, but has kept the naval blockade in
place because of concerns that Hamas will smuggle in weapons.