CPTnet
November 16, 1999
HEBRON URGENT ACTION: Palestinian Farmers and Shepherds driven off their
land

Palestinian farmers and shepherds living near the Israeli settlement of
Havat Ma'on in the southern Hebron district are being evicted and prevented
from working their land by the Israeli military.

Havat Ma'on was supposed to have been dismantled last week as part of the
peace agreements. On Saturday, Palestinian farmers from the R family went
to plow their land after hearing that this settlement near their fields had
been evacuated. They were attacked by about 60 Israeli settlers wielding
stones and sticks who had hidden in caves after their removal from Havat
Ma on. Four or five Israeli soldiers accompanied the settlers.

Five Palestinians from the farming family were hospitalized with bruises and
injuries to the head. They were released the same day. CPTers saw one of
them in the hospital Saturday, and visited the others on Sunday.

Tuesday, the families in the area called the Hebron team, who came out to
the area and found the Palestinian Bedouin families packing up mattresses,
bedsprings, chickens, wood and other belongings into wagons pulled by
tractors. As soldiers watched from the hood of their jeep, one of the
Palestinians asked, "Where is the peace? Is this peace?"

Soldiers claimed that the 20 families they evicted from three areas south of
Yatta today were living in a military zone. One soldier said, "We gave
these people eviction notices months ago, but they refused to leave. We are
concerned for their safety in the military zone. I assure you these people
have homes in Yatta these are 'just' summer homes from which to work their
land." A journalist who accompanied the team said that at least one of the
families, with 15 members, had lived on their land in both winter and summer
for the last five years.

CPT Hebron's connection with these families in the southern Hebron District
goes back to 1996, when members of the team watched soldiers demolish caves
in which some of the families had been living. Over the last two years, CPT
Hebron brought RAB delegations and other internationals to the area to help
the families rebuild stone fences, agricultural terraces and other
structures the Israeli military destroyed.

U.S. residents write a letter of protest to President Clinton and Madeleine
Albright, Canadian residents to Lloyd Axworthy noting the following:

* Palestinian farmers and shepherds near Yatta have been driven off land
which their family had worked for many years in order to make it easier for
the Israeli government to confiscate it. Note that thousands more
Palestinians are facing a similar fate, if Israel follows through on its
plans to confiscate large chunks of the West Bank and Gaza before final
status talks.

*State your objection to the Israeli government's plan to confiscate far
more land than it has turned over to the Palestinians under the Wye and
Sharm al-Sheikh agreements. Demand that no more Palestinian lives, homes and
lands be sacrificed to the annexation of territory which Barak has labeled
"peace."

Send copies of your letters to the Israeli Consulate/Embassy nearest your
home. Prime Minister Barak's fax number and e-mail are also included, if
you wish to send a copy to him as well.

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS:
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy, House of Commons, Ottawa ON K1A
0A6 (no postage necessary); tel: 613-995-1851; fax: 613-996-3443; e-mail
axworl [at] parl [dot] gc [dot] ca

U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
President Bill Clinton, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington DC 20500; tel.
202-456-1414; e-mail: president [at] whitehouse [dot] gov

US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, 2201 C St. NW,
Washington, DC 20520; tel: State Dept. switchboard 202-647-4000; fax:
202-736-4461; e-mail: secretary [at] state [dot] gov.

ISRAELI GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS:
PM Ehud Barak -- email: pm [at] pmo [dot] gov [dot] il or rohm [at] pmo [dot] gov [dot] il
Fax: 011-972-2-566-4838

Israeli Ambassador to Canada
Ambassador David Sultan; 50 O'Connor St., Ste. 1005; Ottawa, ON K1P 6L2;
Tel: 613-567-6450
Fax: 613-237-8865

BOSTON:

Itzhak Levanon

Address: 20 Park Plaza, Suite 1020

Boston, MA 02116

Tel: (617) 542-0041

Fax: (617) 338-4995

Email: israelcg [at] world [dot] std [dot] com

CHICAGO:

Address: 111 E. Wacker Dr., Suite 1308

Chicago IL, 60601

Telephone: (312) 297-4800 Fax: (312) 297-4855

Email: chicago [at] israel [dot] org

Consul-General Tzipora Rimon

HOUSTON:

24 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1500

Houston, TX 77046

Tel: (713) 627-3780

Fax: (713) 627-0149

E-Mail: isramail [at] insync [dot] net

Consul General Tzion Evrony

Los Angeles

Yoram Ben Ze'ev Consul General

Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles

6380 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1700

Los Angeles, CA 90048

TEL: (323) 852-5500 FAX: (323) 852-5555

email: israinfo [at] primenet [dot] com

MIAMI

Consul General Shai Bazak

100 North Biscayne Blvd. Suite 1800

Miami, FL 33132

Phone: 305-925-9400

Fax: 305-925-9455

miami [at] israel [dot] org

New York

SHMUEL SISSO

Consulate General of Israel

800 2nd Avenue

New York, NY 10017

(Between 42nd & 43rd Streets)

Phone: (212) 499-5000 (operator)

E-MAIL: nycon [at] interport [dot] net

PHILADELPHIA

230 South 15th Street, Suite 8

Philadelphia, PA 19102

phone: 215-546-5556

fax: 215-545-3986

Dan Ashbel - Consul General

San Francisco

Daniel Shek

Consulate General of Israel,

456 Montgomery Street, Suite 2100

San Francisco, CA 94104

Tel: (415) 398-8885

Fax: (415) 398-8589

E-Mail: sfisrael [at] ibm [dot] net