An Australian woman has been detained by Israeli authorities for the past five days after refusing to leave the country. Shiri Lock had been planning to attend a peace conference in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, but was denied entry into Israel. Ms Lock's lawyer, Gaby Lasky, says her client is appealing the decision in Tel Aviv's District Court. "We have an interim order denying the state the possibility of sending her back until she has her day in court," she said. Ms Lasky says authorities feared Ms Lock was planning to demonstrate against Israel's separation barrier. "I can confirm that there are black lists in Israel and people who have come as peace and human rights activists, the state doesn't really want to have them in Israel," she said.
Ms Lock has been detained along with an Italian man and a South African man. Ms Lasky says it is not clear when the court will give its ruling. "Well Shiri and her friends are actually peace activists and they have come to a non-violent conference in Bethlehem, and she was denied entry under the reason that she presents a security threat," she said. "We believe that peace activists do not represent any security threat or other threat to the state and that's why we decided to appeal."