[GushShalom] IDF razing olive trees in nightly operation of ground & air forces

[Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)]

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/

International alert (protest letter data after [[]])
June 19, Tel-Aviv

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Weekend at Sawiya on the West Bank:
IDF razing  olive trees in nightly operation of ground & air forces 
Villagers brutalized at improvised roadblock
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[Yesterday night and this morning there came frentic calls from  our 
Palestinian contact in Sawiya Village (between Nablus and Ramallah). We 
recorded the following from I. (full name is known to us):] 

"Friday the bulldozers came at noon and started working on our land, in 
the part close to the settlement of Rehelim [to the  north of Sawiya - 
Ed]. We did not dare to go near, because there were soldiers guarding 
them all around. But also from a distance we saw that they were cutting 
down our olive trees and throwing them aside. We had gotten no notice or 
explanation;  the owners of the land were not given any kind of 
confiscation order...

They went on during the evening and also in the night. After sundown, 
there were helicopters in the air firing flares to give them light. 

In the morning on my way to work I passed the spot. There were no 
bulldozers or army, but you could clearly see where they had worked - 
from the destroyed trees.  It did not look like they did it for the Wall, 
which is what we thought first. For the Wall, they clear long narrow 
strips of land. This was more of a square area, it looks like the setters 
want to place there new mobile homes. 
		
				
[Also from I. a related incident:]

A few kilometres south of us, at Luan A-Sharkiya, there was an army road-
block. It is usually there, but never before did it take so long to get 
through it, we waited for hours and hours. I am every day going through 
there to work, I don't remember anything like it. Many of us tried to 
bypass the road-block and go through the tracks on the side, but the 
soldiers were waiting for us there, too. 

With some soldiers you can reason, not with these. A soldier just hit me 
once in the face, a hard blow, and then let me pass without saying a 
word. Fortunately, he did not touch my car. Others before and after me 
got their windshields smashed, or wires ripped out of the engines, or 
tires cut with a knife. There was a different treatment to each one which 
they caught, without any logic or explanation."

[ The Gush Shalom infoteam contacted the aide of KM Yossi Sarid and asked 
for his intervention, and also alerted the MachsomWatch women who 
specialize in monitoring the army checkpoints and road-blocks. When they 
arrived at at the spot about 11.00 am they found the soldiers in process 
in dismantling the improvised road-block and driving away. ] 
 			[[]]
      
Protest letter data:                                                      
            
[We advise to send (parts of) the preceding report as sample letter, but 
add in the beginning something like:]

Dear Ministers

Please, use your channels to find out what the IDF is doing  during this 
very weekend on the farm lands of Sawiya Village near the settlement 
Rehelim (to the  north of Sawiya). 
We turn to you - hoping that like on earlier occasions you will sound a 
voice of reason from within the Sharon government.

Here follows the report which we got: ...  



[We think it is most useful to protest to the Minister of Justice and the 
Minister of Interior (they are the leaders of the liberal Shinuy Party 
and should be relatively sensitive to it) + (IMPORTANT!!) make it visible 
that you send copies to international diplomats and include a copy to the 
nearest Israeli Embassy.

Please find below collected addresses for easy sending BUT if you can, 
send your protest ALSO by fax.]

Minister of Justice Yosef Lapid 
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax:  +972 2 6285438
E-mail: sar at justice.gov.il
+
other Justice Ministry email addresses:
Director Mr. Shlomo  Gur mankal at justice.gov.il 
Spokesperson Mr. Ido  Baum dover at justice.gov.il 
Public Relations Ms. Yehudit  Bigun pniot at justice.gov.il 


Minister of Interior Avraham Poraz 
Ministry of Interior
2, Kaplan Street, Jerusalem
Fax:   +972-2-670-1628
E-mail of the minister: sar at moin.gov.il
+
other Interior Ministry email addresses:
Director Mr. Mordechay Mordechay mankal at moin.gov.il 
Spokesperson Ms. Tova  Ellinson dover at moin.gov.il 
Public Relations Ms. Nechama Pluga-Zecharia pniot at moin.gov.il 


and copies to:
Secretary of State Colin Powell <secretaryofstate at USA.gov>
Fax: +1-202-261-8577

and to:
Kofi Annan ecu at un.org,
Mr. Terje Rod Larsen <unsco at palnet.com>,
Mr. Romano Prodi <romano.prodi at cec.eu.int>

and/or to the Foreign Minister of your country (for other than US, please 
find yourself the address)

and to the editors of the daily paper(s)of your choice (please find 
yourself the address)


For your convenience, here are the combined email addresses we 
collected (please add your own):

To: sar at justice.gov.il, sar at moin.gov.il
Copies to: secretaryofstate at USA.gov, ecu at un.org, unsco at palnet.com, 
romano.prodi at cec.eu.int, mankal at justice.gov.il,  dover at justice.gov.il, 
pniot at justice.gov.il, mankal at moin.gov.il, dover at moin.gov.il, 
pniot at moin.gov.il 

NB:
send your protest also to the nearest Israeli embassy & find the address 
at: http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/israel1.htm

N.B.: U.S citizens can 

-- alert their representatives at: 
   http://www.cflweb.org/congress_merge_.htm 
   a lot of sample letters available re the increased settlement 
   expansion on the West Bank happening RIGHT NOW

-- call the Capital switchboard toll-free: 1-800-839-5276 and ask 
   to be connected to your member of Congress.

-- call or fax the White House
   White House Comments Line: 202-456-1111
   White House Switchboard: 202-456-1414
   White House Fax: 202-456-2461

-- approach the State Department Bureau of Public Affairs 
   Comment Line: 202-647-6575