Israelis Detain 2 U.S. Teachers

Israeli security forces arrested two American schoolteachers on the occupied West Bank after finding them with “inciteful materials” but released both after a night in jail, the army said Sunday.

John Benvenuto, 42, of Boston, and Alison Glick, 25, of Cincinnati, were arrested Saturday in Ramallah, where they teach at Quaker-run schools for Palestinians.

“Inciteful materials were found in their possession. In the past few days, they were observed in suspicious circumstances in a number of places where violent disturbances took place,” an army officer told reporters.

David Good, a diplomat at the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem that is responsible for the West Bank, met the two at Ramallah police station at midday Sunday. He later said that both were released without charge on his arrival.

Nancy Awad, another American teacher at the school and wife of Palestinian-American political activist Mubarak Awad, said Benvenuto and Glick were arrested with materials the troops apparently believed were for making political posters.

“They were carrying plastic bags in which there was poster paper, magic markers and lists of Palestinians recently killed by troops. Nothing was written on the poster paper,” she said.