CPTnet
February 20, 2001
Hebron Urgent Action: Israeli military destroys two homes in Beit Ummar
By Jamey Bouwmeester

At 9:00am this morning the Israeli Army demolished the home of Abdel Rahman
Al Jawabra in Beit Ummar, a village just north of the city of Hebron.
CPTers received a call shortly thereafter. Anita Fast and Jamey Bouwmeester
rushed to the scene to find the bulldozer at work on a second house
belonging to Nassin Alamiyeh. Members of a CPT delegation arrived shortly
afterward.

Alamiyeh reported that he was completely surprised by the demolition because
he had never been issued a demolition order or even a "stop work" order.
When CPTers accompanied Alamiyeh to ask the officer in charge for the
demolition order, he was unable to present them with any documentation.

The army declared a large area around the house a closed military zone. A
contingent of more than 50 soldiers and an armoured personnel carrier with
three mounted machine guns kept CPTers and journalists from coming closer
than 100 metres from the house.

Although the house was still under construction and the Alamiyehs had not
yet moved into it, it represented more than four years of savings. The
family was helpless to do anything but watch as the bulldozer rammed at the
cement columns of their nearly completed home.

At 1:00pm it began to rain and the army started to pack up and leave the
area. The house had still not been completely razed, but is damaged beyond
repair.

These are the first demolitions in the Hebron District since May 1999.
In the past 18 months people had begun to hope that their homes would be
safe. Now, many fear that this is the beginning in a new wave of
demolitions. Wa'el Abu Ayyash, another resident of the area with a home
demolition order, asked Fast, "When they finish with this house, do you
think they will
come to mine next?"

URGENT!!!!

CPT is asking its constituents to contact their members of parliament and
congress people immediately to ask them to speak out against the renewal of
Israel's home demolition policy. U.S. residents are additionally asked to
contact Secretary of State Colin Powell and President George Bush to condemn
unequivocally a policy to which Israeli, Palestinian and International
human rights organization brought a de facto end by bringing the issue to
the attention of the Israeli and international community. Powell will be
leaving on a trip to the Middle East soon and will meet with both Israeli
and Palestinian leaders. You may wish to mention that demolishing the homes
of Palestinian civilians will only serve to increase the violence currently
raging in the area.

Included below, after the addresses, is a letter written in response to the
Hebron team release by University of Chicago graduate student Ali Abunimah.
It covers basic points that both Powell and Bush need to keep in mind as
they begin their relationship with Israel's new prime minister, Ariel
Sharon.

In the USA

Congress: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Senate: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm
President: president@whitehouse.gov

In Canada

Parliament: http://www.parl.gc.ca
Prime Minister: pm@pm.gc.ca

Legislators can be contacted in various ways. But not all contacts get the
same attention. At times, the urgency of a situation may demand fast action
by electronic means, but generally the following scale of effectiveness
applies:
E-mail or petition Least effective
Faxed message 10 times more effective
Personal phone call 100 times more effective
Personal letter 1000 times more effective
Personal visit Most effective

President George Bush Jr.
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20500
Tel. 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov

US Secretary of State Colin Powell
2201 C St. NW Washington DC 20520
(State Dept. Tel switchboard 202-647-4000)
fax: 202-736 4461 e-mail:secretary@state.gov

February 20, 2001

To Secretary of State Colin Powell
secretary@state.gov

Dear Secretary Powell,

I was shocked to learn this morning that Israeli occupation forces have
demolished the houses of two more Palestinian families in the occupied
West Bank. The houses belonging to Abdel Rahman Al Jawabra and Nassin
Alamiyeh were in the village of Beit Ummar, near Hebron.

As you are undoubtedly aware, Israel has systematically demolished and
confiscated the houses, lands and orchards of Palestinians since its
occupation began in 1967, and has rendered thousands of families homeless,
and destroyed all their savings which usually are invested in their
houses. You are also certainly aware that these actions are grave
violations of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection
of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

Since September there has been a sharp upsurge in the number of houses
demolished, especially in the occupied Gaza Strip. The resumption of
demolitions in the Hebron area after an 18 month hiatus is an alarming and
dangerous development which will certainly inflame the situation on the
ground.

The United States has a legal and moral duty to act to stop these Israeli
abuses: as a High Contracting Party to the Geneva Convention, the United
States has undertaken to enforce it. And as the chief supplier of military
aid and equipment to Israel, the United States must condition such aid on
Israel not using it to colonize the occ