{"article":{"id":32087,"heading":"US Peacekeeper Susan Barclay Successfully Resists Deportation from Israel","author":"Morgan Guyton","created":"2003-03-01 17:40:15","modified":"2003-03-01 17:40:15","last_modified":"Sun, 02 Mar 2003 00:40:15","article":"

The Israeli Interior Ministry suffered an embarrassing defeat this morning, February 28th, when Judge Mikhaela Shidlovsky-Or of Jerusalem District Court ruled that Seattle native Susan Barclay should be released and allowed to stay in the country through March 10th. Susan, her lawyers, and co-peacekeepers are currently considering their legal options to challenge the March 10th deadline.

At 5:20 am this morning, the Israeli police literally dragged Susan onto a KLM Airlines flight but due to her physical resistance onboard and the defiance of airline personnel, they were forced to take her off the plane. It was the second time the Interior Ministry had tried to fly her out since her removal from the Mikhal Detention Facility.

The attempted secret deportation directly violated the February 23rd ruling of Hadera District Court in Susan’s favor. Susan had been detained Thursday, February 20th, during the Israeli military’s incursion into Nablus, Palestine where she had been working as a peacekeeper for 10 months. Her lack of access to an attorney and the lack of criminal charges against her were among the many violations of her human rights recognized in the Geneva Convention.

Susan’s case has provoked an increased awareness of the scandalous duplicity of the Israeli judicial system, in which thousands of Palestinians are being held in “administrative detention” with no criminal charges filed against them. Supporters of Susan from all over the United States managed to tie up many of the 75 phone lines at the Israeli Embassy on February 27th.

“The case of Susan Barclay has been a wakeup call for peace activists in the United States,” said Morgan Guyton of Saginaw, Michigan, “We now realize the extent to which the Israeli military is willing to violate the laws of its own country and the amount of effort it will require to demand respect for the international peacekeeping work that will enable Palestinians and Israelis to live harmoniously.”

<\/p>\n","contact":"morgan@mutualaid.org","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"After tenacious physical resistance aboard a 5:20 AM KLM Airlines flight at \r\nBen Gurion Airport, Susan Barclay appeared before an Israeli judge this morning and has been released, free to stay in Palestine through March 10th (or longer if she chooses to fight her visa extension denial).\r\n","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/03\/32087.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}