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

I'm pleased to be able to say that the attempt to deport Susan failed, as she informed flight crew she would not co-operate with safety procedures, and they refused to have her on the flight.

The eagerness of the State of Israel to deport Susan is breathtaking. She was informed that an appeal had been lodged by the Ministry of the Interior against a judge's decision to grant her bail, pending her appeal against the deportaion order served on her. This was an out and out lie, no appeal was held.

Furthermore, the State paid for Susan's ticket. Whilst in the detention centre Susan met many women who had been held for months because they could not afford to buy their tickets out of Israel. A lawyer plans to use the precedent set in Susan's case, to get Israel to buy tickets for these women!

Susan was put in front of the same judge, who was angry that the previous judgement had been ignored, and she was released on bail. Susan is now appealing the deportation and beginning an action for damages for false arrest, and false imprisonment.