HEBRON: URGENT ACTION DEVASTATION IN YATTA AREA

On Wednesday July 4 CPT Hebron members Kathy Kamphoefner, JoAnne Lingle,
Dianne Roe and Jim Satterwhite rode over dusty roads and goat trails toward
the newly demolished homes in the Yatta region of the West Bank, near the
Israeli settlement of Susia. The day before the body of Israeli settler
Ya'ir Har Sinai had been found in that area. The surrounding area was put
under tight curfew as the Israeli military rounded up 20 men and boys to
interrogate them about Ya'ir. In the hours and days that followed, the army
bulldozed homes, tents, wells, cave dwellings and animal shelters.

CPTers trudged up the hill to meet the families now living on piles of
rubble. The first family was headed by Khaleel Salaam InNawajeh. InNawaljeh
reported that at about 11 pm he was taken to the police station. He was
held until 8 am the following morning. At 3 pm the Israeli army returned
with a bulldozer and demolished the family's main house and one other small
house. The families of Khaleel and his two sons, Salaami and Hisham a
total of ten persons were left without shelter. The families included
several small children and twin infant girls. Their sheep pen was also
bulldozed, killing two sheep in the process. A cave which housed the sheep
in winter was also destroyed.

The second family, headed by Hamed Hassan Hodaar, had four houses
demolished. The four houses had provided shelter to twelve family members,
including small children. One of the daughtersinlaw is pregnant and
expressed concern that she and the children are now spending their days in
the sun. Bulldozer tracks also led to the family's well on the hilltop
above. They reported that soldiers had tasted the water and then decided
not to demolish the well.

As CPTers prepared to leave, Hamed's wife asked if they could help us find
her sixteenyearold son, Ghassan Hodaar. He had been detained with the
others but has not been released. .

Today the demolitions continued. CPT Israeli partners from the Israeli
Committee Against Home Demolitions, Jeff Halper and Arik Ascherman visited
the sights and witnessed further destruction. This Israeli peace
organization and CPT have long been partners, along with the Palestinian
Land Defense Committee in working with these and other families in the West
Bank. 700 families had been forcibly evicted from their Yatta area homes in
November 1999. In March 2000 the Israeli Supreme Court handed down a
decision allowing them to return to their land. CPT had joined its partner
organizations in a party hosted by these families in the southernmost area
of the West Bank. The demolitions today occurred at the site of that party.

We still do not know the whereabouts of the young Hodaar boy. According to
a member of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, he joins 80
other children currently confined in Israeli prisons, some who have been
put in solitary confinement.

In a report put out July 4 from Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights
(RHR) more details are available. (See http://www.rhr.israel.net.) Thre
report estimates that as many as 1000 individuals have been left homeless
in the demolitions. Families who refuse to leave their land have limited
food and water, and no shelter. CPT joins in the call put out by RHR:

Please contact the following officials, preferably by phone or fax. Calls
and letters should be polite but uncompromising.
1. Call for an end to the brutalization of innocent men, women, and
children. 2. Insist that supplies and tents be allowed into the affected
areas.

Contact:

ISRAELI OFFICIALS:

Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon: The Office of the Prime
Minister, Kiryat BenGurion, Jerusalem, Israel; Office Tel.
+011-97226705555/10; Fax: +011-97225664838/6705415; E-mail: pm@pmo.gov.il

Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres: HaKirya Romema Jerusalem 91950;
E-mail: sar@mofa.gov.il; Tel. +011-972-2-5303531/3631/530; Fax
+011-9722-5303506 / 5303896 5303367

Defense Minister Benyamin Ben Eliezer: HaKirya Tel Aviv 61909 Phone
+011-972-36975220/436; Fax +011-972-3-6977053; E-mail: sar@mod.gov.il

General Yaakov Orr Coordinator of Activities in the Territories: Ministry
of Defense, HaKirya, Tel Aviv, Israel; Tel: +011-972-36975351; Fax:
+011-97236976306; Spokesperson: Mr. Shlomo Dror; Mobile: +011-972-2-50398652

Captain Peter Lerner; Spokesperson Civil Administration: Beit El, West
Bank, Israel, Tel: +011-97256234090; Fax: +011-972-29977018

U. S. OFFICIALS:

President George W. Bush, Fax: +12024562461; Email:
president@whitehouse.gov;

Secretary of State Colin Powell, Fax: +12022618577; Email:
secretary@state.gov;

CANADIAN OFFICIALS

Prime Minister Jean Chr