This weekend Jews around the world have celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. In Israel, authorities observed the holiday by declaring that the entire West Bank would be under military closure for three days (which was selectively enforced). Last week, the town right next to ours was declared a closed military zone, and people have not been able to access their land or begin to harvest their olives. Tractors and trucks have dumped tons of rocks and are beginning to construct something – they say they are widening the settler highway, which is quite possible, but we fear they may be clearing the way for the construction of Phase 2 of the Separation Fence / Apartheid Wall that will snake around Ariel and many other settlements, continuing to annex West Bank land into Israel.
I sit here thinking about the 50 women of Jayyus whom I met last week, whose land has been completely cut off by the Wall but who refuse to leave their homes. Many of their husbands are currently sleeping in fields on the other side of the Wall so they are able to work on their land. I think about the family in Aras / Jbarra that has been isolated from their village by the Wall, and received a notice on Thursday saying they must evacuate their home by Sunday, presumably a prelude to a house demolition. I see the maps of the proposed route of the Wall and can’t help but notice that it literally passes right by our house.
I think about all the wonderful people I know, and I think there must be a wayto stop this atrocity. So I am writing to you today to ask you to join me in acollective New Year’s resolution to stop the Wall. The Wall costs $2,000,000per kilometer, and the United States government funds Israel at a rate of over$11,000,000 a day. Bush and Congress have raised concerns about the Wall, andnow is the time to demand that none of your tax dollars go towards the buildingof this inexcusably destructive Wall. On Tuesday, September 30, Bush isexpected to announce to Congress his plans for loan guarantees to Israel. Americans, Israelis, and others will come together at the US Embassy in Tel Avivto demand an end to the funding of the Wall, and thousands of people around theUnited States will be calling on our government to stop funding apartheid inPalestine/Israel. I ask you to do the same.
I am including more facts at the bottom of this e-mail, as well as links to maps of the Wall (look in the middle of the northern West Bank where the proposed path cuts north to circle around Qedumim and east to circle around Ariel; the place whereit turns is Hares, where I live). Whether you choose to investigate this further or not, I urge you to please pick up the phone Monday or Tuesday and call Washington DC. Tell your officials that the Wall in the West Bank will not bring peace or security to Israelis or Palestinians, and that you do not want your tax dollars to fund it.
White House: phone 202-456-1111, fax 202-456-2461
State Department: phone 202-647-6575
Congress: switchboard 202-224-3121 or 800-839-5276 (www.congress.org for infoabout individual members of Congress)
The construction of Phase 1 of the Wall has:
- cut down over 100,000 Palestinian olive trees
- confiscated over 30,000 acres of Palestinian land in the northern West Bank
- demolished over 100 Palestinian houses and businesses
- caused over 80% unemployment in the city of Qalqilya
- trapped 16 Palestinian villages between the Wall and the Green Line because oftheir proximity to illegal settlements
- separated 20,000 people from their agricultural land
- confiscated or demolished over 36 ground water wells and destroyed 35,000 meters of water pipes
- forced Palestinian people to seek refuge in other countries
Maps and other info:http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/index.htmlhttp://www.pengon.org/wall/newmaps/poster.gif
May this year bring peace and happiness to all…Love Hannah
