CPTnet
July 31, 1999
URGENT ACTION: First Palestinian home demolished since Barak government
took power

Christian Peacemaker Team's partner, the Israeli Committee Against Home
Demolitions (ICAHD), has asked people living abroad and within Israel to
write to Ehud Barak, condemning the demolition of the Halaseh family home in
the Judean Desert on July 25-the first demolition since Barak took power.
Below is an edited version of the ICAHD report. Those wishing a full report
(including an update on the Shawamreh family) may contact ICAHD at
halper [at] iol [dot] co [dot] il.

ON THE GROUND, THE OCCUPATION CONTINUES IN ALL ITS CRUELTY

On July 14th, and again on July 25th, the Israeli Civil
Administration of the West Bank demolished the three-room tin shack on a
barren hillside in the Judean Desert belonging to the Halaseh
family-Bedouins who trace their residency in the area back to Ottoman times.
The Halasehs are a poor family of eleven children whose father is partly
paralyzed and cannot work. Their house lies near the Israeli settlements
of Kedar and Ma'aleh Adumim.

It is crucial that we not let this first demolition of the Barak
administration - and one of the most brutal ICAHD has encountered in recent
years - pass without widespread protest.

Please send urgent e-mails or faxes to:

Prime Minister Ehud Barak, (fax: +972-2-566-4838; E-mail: pm [at] pmo [dot] gov [dot] il).

Tell him of your concern for the Halaseh family's fate and situation,
express your opposition to the policy of house demolitions in both the West
Bank and in East Jerusalem, and ask him to end it immediately. House
demolitions and the peace process are absolutely inimical. You may also
send protests to Secretary of State Madeline Albright (fax: 202-736 4461;
E-mail: secretary [at] state [dot] gov) and to your representatives in Congress or
Parliament.

In the end, the true measure of peace will be what happens on the ground,
not lofty political statements or formal political agreements.