(Fwd) Hope Flowers School needs help!

Sat Feb 14 20:11:54 IST 2004

International alert (English-only)

We only found this now - but were informed that it is not yet too late to 
send protest letters: The Hope Flowers School is again threatened - and 
again your action could make a difference...

[1] Ami Isseroff: Hope Flowers School needs help!
[2] listed emails
[3] letter of Ibrahim Issa
[4] sample letter of protest

[We inserted the address details of Colin Powell, and listed the email 
addresses to make life easier for you - but please use also the fax nrs (if 
you have that option) since faxes are less easily discarded. ]

[1]  Ami Isseroff: Hope Flowers School needs help!

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: Ami Isseroff [mailto:ami_iss at netvision.net.il]
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 9:12 PM
Subject: Hope Flowers School needs help!
Importance: High

RE: URGENT - YOUR INTERVENTION IS NEEDED FOR HOPE FLOWERS 
PEACE SCHOOL

Dear friends, Hope Flowers school in El Khader is facing
demolition of their cafeteria, which is adjacent to the planned route of
the Israeli security barrier.

Because it teaches peace and democracy, Hope Flowers has been 
a favorite of the US government in the past.

They need your help. Please write to US and Israeli officials and ask 
them to rescind the demolition order.

Contact information (Hopefully up to date) is below.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ami Isseroff
www.mideastweb.org

Please forward this letter.

listed emails below

Secretary of State Colin Powell  <secretaryofstate at USA.gov>, 
<secretary at state.gov>
Fax: +1-202-261-8577

U.S. Consulate General, Jerusalem, at 18 Agron Road, Jerusalem 
94190 / 27 Nablus Road, Jerusalem 94190; <keenme at state.gov>
PHONE: 972-2-6227230 / 972-2-6253288; FAX: 972-2-6259270 / 
+972-(0)2- 627-7230 

Mr. Shaul Mofaz, Minister of Defense Ministry of Defense 37 Kaplan 
St. Tel-Aviv 61909 Israel E-mail1 (sar at mod.gov.il) or E-mail2
(pniot at mod.gov.il )  Fax : ++972-3-696-27-57 ++972-3-691-69-40
++972-3-691-79-15

Mr. Ariel Sharon Prime Minister Prime Ministers' Office Qiriat David
Ben-Gurion Jerusalem Israel E-mail webmaster at pmo.gov.il (I think 
nobody does anything with that mail)  Fax : ++972-2-566-48-38 
++972-2-651-26-31

Brig. Gen. Menachem Finklestein Chief Military Attorney General 
Military postal code 9605 IDF Israel Fax : ++972-3-569-43-70

Coordinator of Activities in Judea and Samaria

General Yaakov Orr

Ministry of Defense
Ha-Kirya Tel Aviv, Israel
Phone: 972-3-697-5351
Fax: 972-3-697-6306;

Spokesperson:
Mr. Shlomo Dror
Mobile: 972 2 50-398-652
_______________________________

Civil Administration

Commander
Beit El Israel
Tel: 972 2 9977071
Fax: 972 2 9977326

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Shlomo Politis
Legal Advisor to the Civil Administration
P.O. Box 10482, Beit El, Israel
Tel: 972-2-997-7071
Mobile: 972 2 50-511782
Fax: 972-2-997-7326

_______________________________

Mr. Shlomo Moskovitch
The Office of the Executive Planning Council; Civil Administration
P.O. Box 16; Beit El
Israel

_______________________________

Mr. Yossi Hasson
Coordinator, Planning Committee: Civil Administration
P.O. Box 16, Beit El, Israel
Tel: 972-2-997-7307
Fax: 972-2-997-7344

_______________________________

Captain Peter Lerner Spokesperson Civil Administration: Beit El, 
West Bank, Israel, Tel: 972-2-997-7398; Fax: 02-9977018 [May have 
been changed - A.I.]

---end forwarded message------

[2] listed emails

secretaryofstate at USA.gov
keenme at state.gov
sar at mod.gov.il
pniot at mod.gov.il
webmaster at pmo.gov.il
pm_eng at pmo.gov.il

[3] letter of Ibrahim Issa

[As background the Jan. 30 letter of Ibrahim Issa, co-
director of the school]

Dear Friends,

 Lots of thanks for your support to the Hope 
Flowers School.
 I want just to inform you about the demolition 
process of the School cafeteria.
On the afternoon of November 4th, 2003 , and 
after the school day, the neighbours of the 
school informed us that a force from the Israeli 
army came to the school cafeteria and left a 
paper there.
The paper was written in Hebrew and with some 
translation in Arabic. The paper was about a 
final warning to demolish a building and gave the
characteristics of that building. The demolition 
notice had only a number; the owner of the 
building was not listed in that warning, nor were 
there any other details.

The Hope Flowers School contacted immediately an 
Israeli lawyer (Mr. Andre Rosenthal) and informed 
him about that notice. Mr. Rosenthal started his
contacts with the Israeli civil administration in 
order to get more information whether the Hope 
Flowers School Cafeteria is the building in
question, especially since the Israelis wanted to 
demolish the same building in 1999 and after a 
long process, an Israeli military court stopped 
the demolition of that Cafeteria. After few weeks 
and several faxes and phone calls to the
Israeli civil administration, the Israeli civil 
administration confirmed that the warning relates 
to the Cafeteria building of the Hope Flowers
School.
The cafeteria is a separate building of the 
school with an area of 500 square meters. The 
reason given in the notice was that the building 
does not have a building license, but we suspect 
two actual reasons: one: the building is very 
close to an Israeli settlement(Efrat), making
that area a highly sensitive one. Two: the 
building would be close to the segregation wall 
that the Israeli government is building in the 
West Bank.
 We suspect that the segregation wall will be 
built very close to the Hope Flowers School. This 
is according to (unofficial) maps published 
recently by the Israeli army.

Yesterday I was in the Applied Research Institute 
in Bethlehem. I spoke to surveyors who had the 
maps, and they confirmed that the wall will be 
very close to the school. They said that these 
maps, nevertheless, are subject to ongoing
change by the army. This is, I believe, the 
actual motivation for the demolition warning that
we received, but the demolition warning does not 
mention the wall as a reason.

Today I had a phone call from the school lawyer. 
He is going to start a process to stop the 
demolition of the school Cafeteria in Beit El
(Command Center of the Israeli Civil 
Administration in the West Bank). This
is needed to  prevent any unilateral action from  
the Israeli army before any juridical process 
takes place. Meanwhile, the lawyer advised us to 
apply for an Israeli building permit for the 
school cafeteria, because the Israelis
are using this lack of a permit as an excuse for 
demolition.

The school cannot afford the costs of the 
juridical process, neither the building license 
fees and the related engineer's work on its own. 
The school depends for the past three years on 
donations to keep its doors open, and this
problem is only adding more and more pressure on 
the school. We are now in urgent need of funds to 
pay the expenses of the engineering work to submit
for the Israeli building permit. We are looking 
to our friends for support in this matter.

I want to inform you that the school has an 
approved building permit (building license) from 
the Palestinian Authority, but the school is
located in Area C (totally Israeli controlled 
area with entirely Palestinian population) which 
means the Palestinian building license does not 
help to save the Hope Flowers Cafeteria building 
or the main school building either.
The Israelis are taking this as an excuse to 
prevent any Palestinian expansion in area C.

Soon we are going to start a protest letters 
campaign to stop the demolition of the school 
cafeteria. We will send you a draft of the 
protest letters, the case number, and the mailing 
addresses. The letters should be sent to the Head 
of the Civil Administaration in Beit El and to 
Israeli embassies. We are also asking our friends 
to write to their governments to encourage them 
to protest to the Israeli government.

More information will follow soon.

Just to close; When Hussein founded the Hope 
Flowers School he was attacked many times by 
Palestinian radical groups; his home was 
attacked, his car was burned, he was accused of 
being a collaborator and was even jailed by the
PNA as pressure to change the school philospohy. 
Once, after a bad day of treatment in the prison, 
I asked Hussein if he feels sorry after all this
pain and he answered: " To suffer for Peace is 
much better than to suffer for war"

As his son now following in my fathers footsteps, 
I want you to know that the Hope Flowers 
dedication for peace education will never waver. 
It will always remain rock solid, and the Hope 
Flowers School will remain the home of peace
education in the Middle East.

In Peace,

Ibrahim Issa
Co-director

[4]sample letter of protest

- to be used as it is, or for inspiration - 

To...

We have been informed that the Hope Flowers school in 
El Khader, well-known for its excellent record of educating for peace 
and democracy, is facing demolition of their cafeteria, which is 
adjacent to the planned route of the Separation Fence.

In light of the disputed status of this wall and its route, we urge you 
to do everything to stop such a senseless demolition.  

[your name]