Members of the Episcopal Church's Peace and Justice Network got first-hand experience of detention of young men while they were on a fact-finding tour of the Middle East recently. Network members wound up protesting the arrest and detention of an American citizen living in the West Bank.

The group attempted to visit Butrus (Peter) Saleh, a native of Salem, Mass., who was imprisoned near Nablus for unknown reasons. After being refused entry to the prison, members of the delegation wrote a letter to the United States government, stating they were "deeply angered at the apparent impotence" to investigate the detention of the 20-year-old.

The Episcopalians learned later from the American consul that no American representative had been permitted to visit Mr. Saleh for two weeks following his arrest March 13. A representative of the consul was allowed to visit March 29 and reported Mr. Saleh in good health. He told the visitor he had been forced to confess to a charge of throwing stones at soldiers. He denied the charge.

"We came to Israel and Palestine out of our concern for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and especially among Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land and the 'city of peace'," the letter stated. "Now our concern extends not only to the increasingly sober realities on the ground here in this land, but also to the capacity and will of our own government to promote human rights and justice for Americans abroad in Israel/Palestine, and, by extension, for all the people of the Holy Land."

Episcopal News Service contributed to this article.