Israel is planning to deport more than twenty United States citizens suspected of planning acts of violence or mass suicide to coincide with the year 2000.
The Americans, members of a Christian group calling itself the House of Prayer, were arrested overnight in Jerusalem and served with deportation orders.
Israel radio said the authorities feared the group could endanger the public in the year 2000, and that it may have been plotting attacks on mosques in Jerusalem.
A member of the group known as Sister Sharon said it distributed charity to needy Christians. She said those detained were from the US, Australia, England, Spain and other countries.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

J E R U S A L E M, Oct. 25 Israel today detained at least 20 foreign Christians, 13 of them Americans, who have settled in recent years near the Mount of Olives in anticipation of Christ's return. ABCNEWS' Gillian Findlay reports. Police said the detainees were suspected of planning to harm public safety and would be deported after an investigation. Police spokesman Rafi Yaffi said a key concern was that the group was paving the way for other Christians to settle in Israel. The people detained Monday belonged to organizations he called the "Temple group" and the "House of Prayer group," both of which believe in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus, said Yaffe. "Every one of them believes he will be given a certain role at the End of Days," the spokesman said. Israel radio reported that police suspected the House of Prayer followers of planning mass suicide or other dangerous acts. However, group members have said in the past they oppose violence.

Third Group Detained This Year

An Interior Ministry official said the group included 13 Americans, three Britons, three Jamaicans and an Australian. Yaffe said five children were among the arrested. The official reason police cited for their arrests was the expiration of their visas. The Interior Ministry said all 20 would be kicked out within three days. Police said most of the American detainees were from Denver, Colorado, the same as another group called the Concerned Christians deported in January. Their deportation would raise to more than 60 the number of Christians expelled this year. The group was the third batch of Christian zealots to be ordered out by Israel, which is on alert for potential troublemakers drawn to the land of Jesus' birth by the approaching end of the millennium. Earlier this month, Israel also barred Irish and Romanian pilgrims from entering the country.

Leader: "We Speak the Truth"

The Christians detained today were arrested in a midnight sweep, packed into police vans and driven to a prison in the town of Ramle in central Israel. Among those being held was Brother David, who police say is the leader of the House of Prayer group, and another man named Brother Solomon, the apparent leader of the Temple group. Brother David said he and his followers were arrested "because we speak the truth and Israel is about to hear the truth in a greater way than ever before." David, who like the others in the group does not use a last name, spoke from behind the white wire mesh covering the windows of the police van. He said he is a former trailer park owner from Syracuse, N.Y., who settled in Israel in the 1970s. Five years ago, he moved to the Mount of Olives, the point to which he believes Jesus will return very soon. His group, the House of Prayer, provides food and clothing to the needy and helps foreign Christians find places to stay.

Pre-Millenial Tension

Sister Sharon, 53, of Sacramento, Calif., said she had just gotten home from watching a movie at the nearby home of her son, Brother Raymond, when police knocked on the door after midnight. "When I got outside, they told me I was getting arrested," Sharon said, speaking by mobile phone from the van. "The street was full of police." Police spokeswoman Linda Menuhin said the 21 were detained because "police believe their stay could have brought, under certain circumstances, damage to public safety." Menuhin said they would be deported once the investigation was completed. Israel fears that as the millennium approaches, it will become a magnet for apocalyptic groups. However, there is also some concern that a crackdown on such groups will backfire and that pilgrims will be deterred from visiting the Holy Land. Already, Israel has halved its earlier predictions, saying it now expects only 3 million visitors in 2000. Tourism officials have attributed the drop to a lackluster marketing campaign and security concerns of would-be visitors.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- While radical Christians denounced them for doing the "work of the devil," Israeli police detained a group of Christians Monday as part of an intensifying pre-millennium crackdown on doomsday groups. The 21 detainees, most of them U.S. citizens, were ordered deported.
The arrests marked the third sweep this year against extremist Christian pilgrims who have arrived in Israel ahead of the year 2000, anticipating the end of the world.
The Christians were seized around Jerusalem's Mount of Olives, the spot they believe is the site of Jesus' imminent return. Many expect an apocalypse to devastate the Holy Land and usher in the Second Coming of Jesus.
Police said they suspected the 21 -- followers of the groups House of Prayer and Solomon's Temple -- planned to disrupt public order, but dismissed Israel radio reports that they plotted violence. They said they were mainly concerned that the groups were helping other non-Israeli Christians settle illegally in the Holy Land.
But the detainees say they were arrested for other reasons.
"Because the devil doesn't like us preaching in the name of Jesus in Israel," said one follower.
Another, who calls himself Brother David, speaking from behind the wire mesh of a police van, said the Christians were arrested "because we speak the truth and Israel is about to hear the truth in a greater way than ever before."
Brother David, leader of the House of Prayer, has told reporters in the past that he is in correspondence with scores of Christians preparing to sell their belongings to move to the Mount of Olives. His group has helped newcomers find apartments, and has also distributed food and clothing to needy Palestinians.

Members of the group believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible

Members of the group profess to adhere to a literal interpretation of the Bible, which they say foretells Jesus' return to Israel at the end of days. But some say they merely want to come to the Holy Land to worship.
"I'm here because this is where the presence of God is strongest of any place on Earth," one follower said.
David, who like other followers does not use a last name, has been open about his activities, talking freely to reporters and inviting them to his weekly prayer meetings -- in sharp contrast to the followers of the Denver-based doomsday cult Concerned Christians.
More than a dozen followers of the Denver group moved to Israel last year, and changed apartments when they felt Israeli police were learning too much about their whereabouts. The cult members were deported in January.
The Christians rounded up Monday have three days to fight deportation. At least 13 of them are Americans. The others are from Britain, Jamaica and Australia, an Interior Ministry statement said.

Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli officials said Monday they had detained 20 people, 13 of them Americans, from apocalyptic Christian groups who would be deported for posing a threat to public safety.
It was the third batch of Christian zealots to be ordered out by Israel, which is on alert for potential troublemakers drawn to the land of Jesus's birth by the approaching end of the millennium.
Police spokesman Rafi Yaffe said the people detained Monday belonged to organizations he called the ``Temple group'' and the ''House of Prayer group,'' both of which believe in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus. ``Every one of them believes he will be given a certain role at the End of Days,'' the spokesman said. ``We are fearful that their presence in the country could lead to the endangerment of public safety.''
An Interior Ministry official said the 20 included 13 Americans, three Britons, three Jamaicans and an Australian. The official reason police cited for their arrests was the expiration of their visas.
Police said most of the American detainees were from Denver, Colorado, the same as another group called the Concerned Christians deported in January.
They had been living on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives. Yaffe said five children were among the arrested. The Interior Ministry said all 20 would be kicked out within three days.
Their deportation would raise to more than 60 the number of Christians expelled this year.
Among those being held was Brother David, who police say is the leader of the House of Prayer group, and another man named Brother Solomon, the apparent leader of the Temple group.