Letters from Palestine
March 13, 2001
Dear Retha
Thank you for your mail. In these difficult days, we need every support we can get. I am forwarding you an appeal from Birzeit university. It will be helpful if you can forward it further, and have people protest at the e-mail addresses below.
Yesterday about 20% of our students could not reach the school. Many of our teachers had to walk 2 to 3 Kilometers around the check points and trenches to come to school. We are trying to provide temporary housing for some of them in Ramallah.
Sincerely
Mahmoud
LET OUR PEOPLE LIVE!
March 10th, 2001
We, faculty and staff at Birzeit University, appeal to our colleagues and friends around the world to help us in delivering our simple but urgent message -- let our people live! We will be delivering this message in peaceful marches of protest to the Israeli soldiers and tanks that currently prevent us from reaching our University by the only road that allows accessibility and that has been recently blocked. The suffering of Palestinians in surrounding villages who are cut off from their livelihoods, health care, schools and markets is also acute. So far protests have only been met with bullets and tear gas. We need your help to bring our message to the world.
The wave of violence against the Palestinian population has reached unprecedented proportions. The Israeli army's policy of siege through blocking roads and digging trenches around towns and villages has been escalating, making it practically impossible to meet people's very basic needs. This policy has now reached Birzeit University, preventing us and our students from reaching campus to continue our classes, labs and academic life.
On 7 March 2001 in the dead of night, the Israeli army destroyed portions of the only road linking the University to Ramallah, gouging out trenches and destroying about 400 meters of asphalt. This damage to the only road linking Ramallah City to Birzeit village and 33 other villages with a population of about 65000 has resulted in the total disruption of daily life. To date, cars, ambulances and provisions are not able to cross to and from Birzeit and surrounding villages. Most Palestinian populated
areas have already been hermetically sealed, disregarding all standards of dealing with civilians and contravening international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention.
These measures are, in the full sense of the term, war crimes. With these actions, it becomes clear that such policies are part of a long term strategy that Israel is pursuing in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This strategy has been adopted by successive Israeli Governments, both of Barak and Sharon, in order to subjugate the entire population, and will them to accept the unacceptable.
We call on you to ACT NOW:
1.Call for an immediate end to the closure policies.
2. Call for the international protection of the Palestinian population.
3. Demand that Israel abide by international law.
Call the nearest Israeli Embassy in your area, or send your protests to the Israeli Government on these email addresses.
Benjamin Beneliazer, Israeli Minister of Defense at sar@mod.gov.iland Shimon Peres, Israeli Foreign Minister at sar@mofa.gov.il
For further follow up, please visit the Birzeit Website at www.birzeit.edu
CPTnet
March 13, 2001
Hebron Urgent Action: Israeli military destroys "Love and Peace" green house, Campaign for Secure Dwelling member's home The first words we heard this morning were "Haram America" -- "Shame on America" in Arabic. We stood with the family of eight who had just witnessed the Israeli military destroying their home in Beit Omar.
The family, who wishes to remain anonymous, participates in CPT's Campaign for Secure Dwellings (CSD.) Along with this home, the Israeli military reduced to rubble another home that they had started demolishing on the 20th of February. When they were finished with the two houses, they destroyed the greenhouse of the "Love and Peace Nursery," a familiar landmark on the road between Hebron and Bethlehem.
Since the inaugurations of both US. President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, home demolitions have begun again in the Hebron District. The Israeli military have also handed out stop work orders and home demolition orders to many local families. In the past, CPT urged people to flood President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeline Albright with faxes, phone calls, e-mails, and letters, demanding an end to home demolitions. This tactic was extremely effective and resulted in a twenty one month hiatus in home demolitions in the Hebron district.
URGENT ACTION
From Sunday (March 18) through Tuesday March 20, Prime Minister Sharon will be visiting President Bush and members of his cabinet, then meeting with Kofi Annan at the UN. CPT asks U.S. citizens to flood the offices of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell with faxes, phone calls and e-mail (and send copies to their
legislators.)
Ask them to demand an end to all demolitions of Palestinian homes immediately. Remind them that both the U.S. and Israel have signed the Fourth Geneva Convention, which stipulates that occupying armies may not demolish homes or confiscate lands of people who live in the lands they are occupying. Ask that the U.S. end all aid to Israel until it respects the human rights of Palestinians.
Both Canadian and U.S. citizens should call or send faxes and e-mail to UN Secretary Gneral Kofi Annan. Ask him to speak boldly against home demolitions to Sharon and to the press.
Let these leaders know that people of the world will not ignore the deliberate destruction of a family's home.
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR KOFI ANNAN
Canadian citizens should contact
The Canadian Mission to the U.N
Phone: 212-848-1100
Fax: 212-848-1195
e-mail: Inquiries@UN.org,ecu@UN.org (in the subject heading, note that the message should be directed to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.)
U.S. Citizens should contact
U.S. Mission to the U.N
Phone: 212-415-4000
fax: 212-415-4443
e-mail: See above
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR U.S. LEADERS
Congress: http://www.house.go/writerep
Senate: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm
President George Bush Jr.
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20500
Tel. 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
e-mail: president@whitehouse.govVice-President Dick Cheney
(May be contacted at the White House numbers and address)
e-mail: vice.president@whitehouse.gov
US Secretary of State Colin Powell
2201 C St. NW Washington DC 20520
(State Dept. Tel. Switchboard 202-647-4000)
FAX: 202-736-4461
e-mail: secretary@state.gov
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CPT Hebron has maintained a violence reduction presence in Hebron since June of 1995 at the invitation of the Hebron Municipality.
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is an initiative among Mennonite and Brethren congregations, and Friends meetings who support violence reduction Teams around the world.
Contact CPT at P.O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680 USA; Tel: 312-455-1199; Fax: 312-432-1213; e-mail: CPT@igc.org To join CPTNET send an e-mail to admin@MennoLink.org and the message: Group: menno.org.cpt.news. Visit us on the WEB: http://www.prairienet.org/cpt