In this issue:
Two important alerts
A great gift
In the News
Brave farmers
ALERT: Sacramento electeds, Kevin McCarty and Dave Jones in Israel
We just learned that our Sacramento city council person, Kevin McCarty and our California Assemblyperson Dave Jones are in Israel attending an Israeli business conference. Please call their offices immediately and say you heard they are in Israel and ask that they meet with their constituents Maggie Coulter and Patricia Daugherty, who are living in the West Bank near Bethlehem (very close to Jerusalem). You can give them our cell phone 059 802 5761 (country code is 972) and email mcpd1234@gmail.com
Kevin McCarty 916-808-7006
Dave Jones: Capitol office: 916-319-2009 (District office: 324-4676);
Also tell them that you hope they have gotten a "balanced view" by spending time with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and with Palestinian-Israelis. Ask them to issue a public statement about the Israeli Foreign Minister's call for ethnic cleansing (see alert below). Tell them you would like a full report of their trip here as soon as they return, including who paid for the trip, what they did, and who they met with.
Please refer them to our blog, http://bethlehemnarratives.blogspot.com.
Please follow-up your phone calls to them with emails: KMcCarty@cityofsacramento.org; assemblymember.jones@assembly.ca.gov.
ALERT: Israeli Call for Ethnic Cleansing
It was very disturbing to hear the December 11 public comments of Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, that Arabs in Israel will not have any place in the Jewish state after a Palestinian state is established. This call by an Israeli government official for ethnic cleansing is absolutely barbaric and should be immediately denounced by the international community, including our government. At a minimum, this would affect a fifth of Israel's population: the nearly 1.5 million Palestinians living as Israeli citizens inside Israel's borders established by the 1949 armistice ("the green line"). (There are an additional approximately 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza and 2.5 in the West Bank).
Please call Doris Matsui, Mike Thompson or your representative and Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (or your state senators), 202-224-3121 and tell them to issue a public statement condemning Livni's comments and calling for an end to Israel's occupation and apartheid. Tell them this is one more reason why the U.S. must sending aid and selling or giving weapons to Israel.
A great gift: Palestinian Olive Oil: In Sacramento/Davis, call to order, contact Zohreh 916-631-0565; totalhood@aol.com. Others, contact Paul (510) 236-5338 or larudee@pacbell.net. Proceeds support the International Solidarity Movement and Free Gaza.
In the News: Sample of life under occupation
Human Rights Reporter barred entry into Israel: Dec. 14, 2008. Israeli Occupation Authorities denied entry to and deported United Nations Special Reporteur, Professor Richard Falk who was appointed to report on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. This was Falk's first official visit. (aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=193842)
Palestinian Political prisoners: On Dec 15, 2008, Israel released 230 Palestinian political prisoners; approximately 11,000 are still being held in Israeli jails, many held without charges. (www.imemc.org/article/58016)
Some of the recent Israeli Military Invasions in West Bank:
On Dec.15, 2008, the Israeli military detained three Palestinian residents of Bethlehem after Israeli soldiers ransacked their homes. (www.imemc.org/article/58014)
On Dec. 14, 2008, the Israeli military invaded several neighborhoods in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. (www.imemc.org/article/58010)
On Dec. 13, Israeli soldiers detained 10 residents from the village Zabouba and deployed patrols across the Kufer Ra'y village. (www.imemc.org/article/58010)
On Dec. 13, Israeli soldiers in Hebron shot a Palestinian child in the head, seriously wounding him in Hebron. (www.imemc.org/article/58000)
Brave Farmers
Al-Walaja
On Friday, Dec. 12, Maggie visited a farmer from the village of Al-Walaja, south of Jerusalem. Zionist militias destroyed the original village in 1948; the residents fled, but rebuilt the village nearby. It was illegally occupied in the 1967 Israeli-land seizure and half of it was illegally annexed to Jerusalem. Starting in 1987, Israel banned new construction and has demolished homes in addition to destroying nearby forest land. Israel now plans to build its illegal apartheid wall on the village lands, which would completely surround the village, isolating it from the rest of the world. The villagers are challenging this in the Israeli courts.
From the farmer's land, we could see the illegal Israeli settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo topping the hillsides across the valley. I had come to join Palestinian, Israeli and international volunteers who are helping plant trees, maintain the terraces, improve the watering system, and create a presence on the land as part of the resistance to Israel's destructive plans.
Some of the volunteers were with Anarchists Against the Wall (www.awalls.org) who are currently doing a US speaking tour and will be in California in January & February (hopefully in Sacramento on February 4, 2009, email sacpeace.org for more info.)
The village is near the Cremisan Winery, part of the Silesian Order of the Roman Catholic Church. The winery has not been active in opposing wall; you can email and ask them to get involved: www.cremisan.org/html/contact_us.html
Nahhalin
On Saturday, Dec. 13, we visited a farmer from the nearby village of Nahhalin, which is also struggling to survive, surrounded by illegal settlements and military installations. To help preserve his land, Daoud Nassar has enlisted the help of international volunteers; for more information, see his website, www.tentofnations.org. Nassar is also trying to help city dwelling Palestinians get reconnected to the land.
The Israelis will not allow him to have running water or electricity or add or expand the two small buildings on the site. The Israeli military could come at any time and destroy any new structures, including the chicken coops and composting toilets. Fortunately the site has a cistern, which is refilled by rain water (so far very scarce this year).
Nassar described how about six months ago, a woman from a nearby Israeli settlement came on the land while he was giving a workshop. He was talking about the lack of water when the woman interrupted him. She stood up and said, "You have no water, but up there [in the settlement], we have swimming pools." She later told him that she had lived in the settlement for nine years and had just realized she had neighbors (the Palestinians). Hopefully this relationship will develop and this woman will become part of the active resistance to Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Bil'in
This past Friday, Dec. 12, villagers in Bil'in (east of Ramallah) and their international supporters held their weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall and Israel's stealing of their land. Activists reported that the Israeli soldiers responded to the peaceful demonstration by throwing tear gas and aiming their guns at the village's children. Many of the people in the village no longer have an income source since half the village lands have been confiscated and there are very limited employment opportunities. For more information, see, www.bilin-ffj.org. We have not yet been to Bil'in, but have talked to other internationals who have and we do hope to go there soon.
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