Susan Barclay: Free but Ordered to Leave Israel

Susan Barclay: Free but Ordered to Leave the Country

Today the Haifa District Court turned down the State Attorney's request for the re-arrest of Susan Barclay. This was followed by a separate decision in which the Jerusalem District Court ruled in favour of the State Attorney's petition that Susan be made to leave the country tomorrow. In her ruling the Jerusalem District Court judge consistently sided with the Ministry of the Interior, refusing a request that Susan be allowed to speak in her defence and ignoring questions raised by her lawyer as to why it was that the Ministry of the Interior never notified Susan that her visa extension had been refused and instead instructed the police to arrest her at Huwara Checkpoint.

The judge's decision that Susan leave the country tomorrow forestalls any attempt by Susan to bring a civil suit against the State of Israel concerning her unlawful arrest and subsequent mistreatment. The decision is symptomatic of the handling of such cases by the Israeli judicial system whereby the mere invocation of the term "security threat" by the Shabak (secret police) is almost always sufficient to guarantee a decision against the defendant..

Based on legal advice that she has exhausted all legal options and that the courts will probably delay the hearing of her civil suit against the State of Israel for several months, Susan has decided to abide by the court's ruling but file a petition for permission to return to Israel to testify in her civil case.

In the meantime Susan intends to continue her work for peace and justice by returning to the United States and working with progressive movements to inform the American people of the war crimes in Palestine that are being financed by the US government's multi-billion dollar aid package to Israel.

Susan has requested that the ISM Media Office pass on her heartfelt thanks to all the people around the world who have supported her during her ordeal by sending messages of support, lobbying the US and Israeli governments and spreading the word about her case through the internet and alternative media (none of the mainstream US news networks and media corporations chose to report her case and rebuffed all demands that they do so). She has also requested that the ISM Media Office emphasise that the primary reason that she is now free is because of her privileged status as an American citizen and wishes to express her solidarity with her friend and fellow ISM activist Omar Al-Titi, who was arrested in Nablus "for security reasons" on December 23 and been held in administrative detention ever since. The Israeli officer who arrested Omar, was the infamous Ariel Ze'ev, a notorious sa

Finally, Susan also wishes to express her solidarity with the many Palestinian women being held in administrative detention in Israeli prisons without charge or trial, many of whom have been targeted for persecution to put pressure on their male relatives to sign confessions or become informers.

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