PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Jul. 7, 2010

Pray for the Palestinian families of the Beqa’a Valley, near Hebron. In recent days, Israel soldiers have destroyed and confiscated water pipes that irrigate the farmers’ vegetable crops. Pray for a just distribution of water resources in the West Bank. 

On 21-22 June 2010, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) visited several Kurdish Iraqi families affected by Iranian cross-border attacks, which have intensified in the past three months.  Along a hillside, villagers pointed out remnants of twelve rockets that exploded three weeks earlier near the tents of two semi-nomadic families, several kilometers from the village of Kani Spi in the Choman district of northern Iraqi Kurdistan.  At the families' new tent site, Khosha* recounted the attack.  Family members ran away when the shelling started, but realized to their horror that two of the younger children were missing.

On 25 May 2010, the Simcoe County Council voted to ask the Ministry of the Environment of the Province of Ontario to revoke the Certificate of Approval for Dump Site 41. The Ministry immediately approved the request. The  pure water of the Alliston Aquifer has been protected indefinitely, at least in this location.

Common sense and environmental activism have won a huge victory. This protest came out of a wonderful period of cooperation and mutual trust among Indigenous people, local farmers, residents of nearby towns and churches and activists from environmental and other NGOs, including the  Aboriginal Justice Team of Christian Peacemaker Teams. 

Fourteen-year-old Basos from Rania in Iraqi Kurdistan had been visiting her grandparents in the mountain village of Weza, in the Choman district, close to the Iraq-Iran border.  About 5:00 p.m., 31 May 2010, she and other family members were planting tomatoes in the fields when Iranian shelling began.  One rocket exploded close by, killing her and traumatizing her twenty-five-year-old cousin.  

Three weeks later, two members of our CPT Iraq team and a member of Human Rights Watch sat outside the village of Basos’ uncle, looking downhill at the newly planted fields.  He said, “When Basos' mother heard about her death, she had a partial stroke.  In her grief she told us, 'It's hard to send your daughter off, and her body is brought back to you.'”

Accompanying Persons Persecuted for Political Affiliation

The team spoke to the family of Mr. Aziz, a supporter of the Goran (Change) list, facing death threats and harassment by the police and security services.  In May, he had been imprisoned for one night at the police station.  About two hours after his release, he received a threatening phone call.  Two of his friends received threats from the same phone number.  The police held on to Mr. Aziz' ID card after his release.  The twenty-one-year-old former Peshmerga, now staying at a new undisclosed location, expects the security service will continue to make his life difficult.

From 11 May, Iranian bombing in the Zharawa border region in northeastern Iraq started up again.  During the early spring, farmers risked their lives to plant food crops, only to have them ruined by these attacks.  Once more, military technology undermined their agricultural economy.  The land of the Creator lay shocked and broken as advanced weapons injured and killed people.  Destroying lives has become like playing a remote control game in the Kur

Christian Peacemaker Teams’ partner organization, Borderlinks, is calling for applicants to participate in its Solidarity Against Arizona Senate Bill 1070 delegation 26-31 July 2010.  These dates intentionally span the date when SB1070 is scheduled to go into effect (29 July), which criminalizes lack of documentation and authorizes state and local law enforcement to crack down on those sheltering, hiring, and transporting undocumented immigrants.