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URGENT ALERT: Eviction Threat to Cave Dwellers
URGENT ALERT: Eviction Threat to Cave Dwellers - ACT NOW
Campaign start: >> Online Petition // Presence in the Court // and more to come << òáøéú àçøé àðâìéú Joint Campaign by (alphabetically): // Bat Shalom // Coalition of Women for Peace // Fifth Mother // Gush Shalom // HaCampus Lo Shotek [Campus Speaks Out] // Israel Committee Against House Demolitions // MachsomWatch // New Profile // Noga Feminist Journal // Public Committee Against Torture in Israel // Rabbis for Human Rights // Ta'ayush: Arab-Jewish Partnership // The Other Israel peace magazine // Women in Black (Israel) // Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (Israel Section) //
[with thanks to Gila Svirsky http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SafeCave/petition.html
øä"î àøéàì ùøåï: èì' 6705511-02, ô÷ñ 566-4838-02,
asharon@knesset.gov.il, pm_eng@pmo.gov.il,
webmaster@pmo.gov.il ùø äáéèçåï ùàåì îåôæ: èì'
6977138-03, ô÷ñ 6976218-03, sar@mod.gov.il
îúàí ôòåìåú áùèçéí äàìåó éåñó îùìá èì'' 677138-03, ô÷ñ'
6975177-03, mlene+41@netvision.net.il øàù îðäì
äàæøçé úú àìåó àéìï ôæ: èì' 9977001-02, 9977341-02
Friends and supporters We need the help of decent
people to prevent the threatened expulsion of a powerless
community of herders and farmers who live in caves in the
Occupied Territories, with little connection to the outside
world. During the month of Elul we are particularly
congnizant that Teshuvah, Tefillah and Tzedaka Ma'avirin et
Roa HaGzeira. We must practice justice and right wrongs
here on earth before we can ask the Holy One of Blessing to
look favorably on our petitions on the High Holy Days. We
very much need each and every one of you to sign the
petition appearing below and send letters to the list of
decision makers also appearing below before the High Court
hearing on Wednesday, September 8th, regarding the cave
dwellers of Susya and surroundings. (To remind you, there
are two parallel High Court cases dealing with two separate
attempts to expell cave dwellers from different cave
communities. The government will be asking that the court
rescind their order which returned the expelled cave
dwellers to their homes, while we argue that the government
is exploiting the Court decision (which spok e of
preserving a "status quo" ) to make life impossible for the
residents of the caves. They are not even allowed to
rebuild/repair the caves and other structures damaged by
Israeli security forces during the expulsion, while new
outposts dot the landscape, Itamar Cohen and his friends
have taken over the village of Gawaweis and are living in
one of the homes and the settlement of Sussya is growing
crops on land which the defense establishment itself ruled
to be private Palestinian land. Please demand that
the government withdraw all objections to the Court's
restraining order and allow the development of the
infrastructure necessary for the cave dwellers to live in
dignity. The petition and background information below can
help you in terms of what to write. However, please keep
in mind that phone calls are most effective, followed by
original faxes, followed by original emails. Please make
your communications firm and clear, but polite.
Please sign on the petition by clicking: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SafeCave/petition.html
Also please let us know if you can come to the court on
Wednesday or are interested in expressing solidarity in any
other way. * Bat Shalom * Coalition of Women for Peace
* Fifth Mother * Gush Shalom * HaCampus Lo Shotek [Campus
Speaks Out] * Israel Committee Against House Demolitions *
MachsomWatch * New Profile * Noga Feminist Journal * Public
Committee Against Torture in Israel * Rabbis for Human
Rights * Ta'ayush: Arab-Jewish Partnership * The Other
Israel peace movement newsletter * Women in Black (Israel)
* Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
(Israel Section) _____________________________
The Petition: To: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
and Ministry of Justice Yosef Lapid STOP THE
EVICTION OF PALESTINIANS FROM THE SOUTH HEBRON HILLS
We, the undersigned, call upon the Israeli government to
abandon all attempts to evict the Palestinian inhabitants
of the south Hebron hills from their ancestral homes in the
region. Forcible expulsion of a population is
reprehensible and a violation of international law.
Israel, as a member of the community of nations and a
signatory to the Rome Convention of 1994, is committed to
safeguarding the population of the occupied territories and
is strictly forbidden from any attempt to change its
residency status. We further demand that the Israeli
authorities protect this population from ongoing harassment
and aggression by Israeli settlers in the area.
If you'd like to sign, click on: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SafeCave/petition.html
Background Information This area is
inhabited by a small Palestinian population of
approximately 2,000 pastoralist herders and farmers living
in caves carved out of the mountainside. Their way of life
is Today, their homes, fields, and way of life
are under existential threat. Israeli settlers have
established a string of settlements and illegal outposts in
this area and seek to annex the land in the immediately fo
reseeable future. The Jewish settlers of Susya, Maon,
Yatir, and other places in the Hebron hills are among the
most militant and violent in the occupied territories, and
they have turned the lives of the Palestinian cav
e-dwellers into a nightmare. With support from
the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and Civil Administration,
the settlers have made life imposible for the cave
dwellers, even going so far as to destroy cave-homes and
poison water cisterns. In most cases, even simple
agricultural work, such as sowing the fields or harvesting
the crops, has become impossible. In most cases, the
Israeli security forces have turned a blind eye to these
crimes. A legal battle in the Israeli courts, led
by human rights lawyer Shlomo Lecker and the staff of the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel, has temporarily
granted these people the right to remain on their land foll
owng the attempts to expell them in 1999 and 2001.
However, there is now the very real danger that the Israeli
High Court of Justice will soon issue a decision that
allows the IDF to evict the Palestinians and seize thei
r land. We have joined together to help these
people preserve their homes, their culture, and their human
dignity. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: Office of
the Prime Minister, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Rehov Kaplan 3
Jerusalem 91919; Fax: 972-2-566-4838; Tel: 972- 2-670-5511;
asharon@knesset.gov.il; webmaster@pmo.gov.il
Israeli Officials Responsible for the West Bank
Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz : Ministry of Defense,
Ha-Kirya, Tel Aviv, Israel; sar@mod.gov.il Fax
972-3-697-6218 Tel: 03-697-5436 Coordinator of
Activities in the Territories Yosef Mishlav Ministry of
Defense, Ha-Kirya Tel Aviv, Israel; Spokespeople Phone:
972-3-697- 7138; Fax: 972-3-697-5177;
mlene+41@netvision.net.il Brigadier General Ilan
Paz Commander of Civil Administration; Beit El, West Bank,
Israel; Tel: 972 2 997-7001; Fax: 972-2-997-7341
Brigadier General (retired) Baruch Spiegel Advisor to the
Minister of Defense on Humanitarian Issues Tel. 972 3
6976918, Fax 972 3 6975648; baruch_spiegel@mod.gov.il
Mr. Yair Lotstein. Legal Advisor to the Civil
Administration: P.O. Box 10482, Beit El, West Bank, Israel;
Tel: 972-2-997-7071 ;Mobile: 972 2 50-511782; Fax:
972-2-997-7326 Mr. Captain Ofir Hacham
Spokesperson Civil Administration: Ha-Kirya Tel Aviv,
Israel, Israel, Tel: 972-3-697-7138 Please
forward! # Truth against Truth - opposite
views on the history of the conflict in 101 steps
Hebrew / òáøéú http://www.gush-shalom.org/Docs/Truth_Heb.pdf English
http://www.gush-shalom.org/Docs/Truth_Eng.pdf
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