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ISRAEL ILLEGALLY DEPORTS US PEACEKEEPER SUSAN BARCLAY (english) |
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by Morgan Guyton
Email: morgan (nospam) mutualaid.org |
27 Feb 2003
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The Israeli government has ignored a ruling of the Hadera, Israel district judge demanding Susan Barclay's release and has suspectedly deported Susan against her will as of 3 pm EST. No confirmation of deportation expected till 12 am EST / 7 am Israeli time. |
Please read both 1) press release and 2) action response.
1) PRESS RELEASE
US Citizen Being Deported from Israel At 3 pm EST
US Contact: Morgan, +1 989-758-0096
Palestine Contact: Michael, +972-2-277-4602
Susan Barclay of Seattle, Washington has informed supporters through a smuggled cellular phone that Israeli forces plan to deport her at 10 pm Israeli time today to the United States from an unknown location.
Susan was detained by the Israeli military at the Howarra checkpoint during thean military incursion into Nablus, Palestine early last Thursday morning, February 20th. She had been helping escort Palestinian families from their demolished homes to try to prevent the soldiers from opening fire.
She had been held in solitary confinement in a military jail near Hadera, Israel since then with no criminal charges filed against her and no ability to speak to the Israeli lawyer who has agreed to represent her. The Israeli Ministry of the Interior appealed a ruling by the Hadera district judge who said Monday, February 24th that Susan should be released in 48 hours. The forced deportation contravenes the ruling of the judge.
Susan has a long history of social advocacy work. She co-founded the Women's Resource Center at Notre Dame University which was shut down for distributing contraceptives to women on campus. Undeterred, she graduated from Notre Dame cum laude in 1999 and subsequently went into the Peace Corps to work as a teacher in Guinea for 27 months. Her interest in Palestine was sparked by six months of study her senior year at the Tantur Ecumenical Center in Bethlehem where Muslims, Jews, and Christians come together to talk about peace and conflict resolution. She has been a peacekeeper in Nablus with the International Solidarity Movement for 8 months.
The veracity of this story can be confirmed and further details obtained by contacting any one of the phone numbers listed below:
Raj Wadwani, US State Department Israel desk +1 202-647-3672
US State Department Israel desk main line +1 202-647-3930
Congressman Jim McDermott’s office +1 206-553-7170
US Consulate: Tel Aviv, Israel +972 3 519 7575
International Solidarity Movement office +972-2-2774602
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2) ACTION RESPONSE
TAKE ACTION: EMAIL THE LETTER BELOW TO ASK (at) ISRAELEMB.ORG AND MOD (at) ISRAELEMB.ORG.
February 27, 2003
To Whom It May Concern:
I write concerning your country’s planned deportation this afternoon of US citizen Susan Barclay who had been working as an international peacekeeper in Nablus, Palestine when your military forces detained her last Thursday. Since Susan has been in custody, her human rights have been violated. She has still not had the ability to speak to an attorney and she has been held for an extended period of time without criminal charges filed.
Deporting her without a fair trial shows that you do not have the same standards for your judicial system that citizens of the United States are accustomed to. It also shows that your government is worried about US citizens visiting the occupied territories and reporting to the general public what they see there. According to the UN Convention on Human Rights, international peacekeepers have every right to enter a country and monitor the fair treatment of its civilian population. The fact that Susan was present as a human rights observer in occupied Palestine is not sufficient grounds for her deportation.
We understand that your country was recently denied its request for $4 billion in military aid and that you will be renegotiating in Washington soon. Peace activists across the United States are mobilizing as we speak to make sure their congressional representatives know about how you choose to treat a US citizen so that it may be a factor in their decision-making.
Please intervene before your country makes a grave mistake. We support unequivocally the work of international peacekeepers in occupied Palestine as an essential element of the complicated task of making the region safe for Israelis and Palestinians to live as neighbors.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
CC: [YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES]
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See also:
www.palsolidarity.org
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