Emails and fax numbers for officials

ICAHD: THE ISRAELI COMMITTEE AGAINST HOUSE DEMOLITIONS ACTION: Supporting the Palestinian families of the West Bank village of Kifal Harith in rebuilding their "illegal" homes which were demolished by the Israeli authorities on Monday.

BACKGROUND: Kifal Harith is a Palestinian village of some 5,000 people in the West Bank, very close to the Israeli settlement of Ariel. Like in other towns and villages of the West Bank under Israeli control, residents have been largely unable to acquire building permits for the past thirty years, even though they apply for them to the Israeli Civil Administration, and thus are forced to build "illegally." The Israeli authorities then issue demolition orders, causing thousands of families to live in constant fear of the bulldozers. Some 2000 demolition orders are today outstanding.

Early on Monday morning, the 28th of December, jeeps of the Israeli Civil Administration, the army, the Border Patrol and the police, accompanied by a wrecking crew and two bulldozers, appeared suddenly at the house of Mahmud Shakur. Brandishing orders to demolish the two "illegally built " rooms in which the family of seven live, the soldiers quickly evicted them, removed their belongings and demolished the house where they had been living the past ten years.

The wrecking crew, soldiers and Civil Administration officials then proceeded to the house of Husam Abu Yakub, uprooting olive trees and gardens of village residents on the way. By this time the villagers were awake and the Abu Yakub family tried to stop the demolition of their three-room home, where they had been living for the past three years. They pleaded with the soldiers not to destroy the house, and when Husam, his wife, and their three small children refused to leave, the army threw in a canister of tear gas. Several family members fainted from the gas and needed medical assistance.

The Civil Administration contractor then sent his African guest workers to quickly remove the family's belongings, and the house was bulldozed as the family and neighbors look on, some dazed, some bruised, other wailing and crying and cursing the army. When the job was done and the bulldozer finally retreated, the people asked the army to leave them alone. For some inexplicable reason, however, the army remained at the site as if to humiliate the people and assert their power. Resistance to their presence soon grew in the volatile atmosphere, until the army threw tear gas and shot plastic-coated bullets into the crowd. After a pitched yet superfluous battle in which the entire village of Kifal Harith was sealed off to the outside world, the army finally left the area. Five Palestinians were seriously wounded, Husam Abu Yakub emerged beaten and bloody, and three soldiers were injured by stones.

Much of the demolition of the Abu Yakub house and the ensuing violence were shown on Israeli TV and the incident was prominently reported in the press. When asked about the violence, the Israeli army spokesperson replied: "This was an entirely local incident of no interest to the public."

The demolitions cause great fear and concern for several reasons. It follows a period of relative quiet and may signal the start of a new campaign of demolitions and land expropriations designed to "create facts " on the ground before final status talks between Israelis and Palestinians begin. It may also indicate a desire on the part of Netanyahu to "prove" to the settlers and the right-wing in Israel his toughness towards the Palestinians during the next five-and-half months leading up to Israeli elections on May 17. Much of the settlement of Ariel is built on land expropriated from Kifal Harith and the nearby village of Salfit, and violence erupted last week when another 1000 acres of Salfit land was expropriated for Ariel's expansion. Both in terms of the stalled peace process and the volatile atmosphere in the area, these demolitions and their suffering and violence they triggered were superfluous - unless the provocation was intentional to arouse "Palestinian violence" and thus provide a pretext for further delaying the implementation of the Wye Accords.

Other aspects of these demolitions are troubling as well. The Israeli government formally announced that it would not demolish Palestinian houses built outside of but close to town and village master plans, yet the Abu Yakub home stood only 50 meters from the town boundary. Civil Administration officials as well as the Israeli Minister of Defense also stated explicitly that populated houses would not be demolished - yet this case both families had lived in their houses for years. This might be a reflection of the new Sub-Committee for Supervising the Civil Administration that has just been created by the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee of the Knesset. Chaired by MK Slomiansky of the National Religious Party and a resident of a West Bank settlement, it took the Civil Administration to task last week for not demolishing MORE houses at a faster rate.

The systematic destruction of people's homes is always a heart-breaking sight, so intertwined are home, family, personal security and one's own identity, personal and cultural. The fact that the demolitions took place during the holy month of Ramadan is particularly humiliating and disrespectful to the local population. And now, in the cold of winter at the start of a new year (and winter IS cold, raw and rainy on the West Bank), two more Palestinian families have nowhere to live, their only crime being the simply desire for decent shelter, a fundamental human right.

Netanyahu makes a great commotion about "reciprocity" in peace-making, but as one Palestinian villager put it: "His is a cold, dead peace." For the sake of a living peace, support our campaign to protect and rebuild Palestinian homes.

WHAT TO DO: On Friday and Saturday, the 1st and 2nd of January, ICAHD is organizing an action of home rebuilding in Kifal Harith involving both Palestinian and Israeli peace activists.

You can support our efforts in one simple and effective way -- send e-mails, faxes or letters of protest to the following key decision-makers and organizations:

US Secretary of State Madeline Albright Email: secretary@state.gov Fax: (202) 736-4461

Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC Fax: (202) 363-4156 Email: ask@israelemb.org

Israeli Embassy in Canada Fax: (613) 237-8865 Emails: an390@freenet.carleton.ca or

Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu E-mail: pm@pmo.gov.il

Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordekhai Ministry of Defense Ha-Kirya Tel Aviv, Israel Office Phone: 972-3-691-6940

We know that letters, faxes and e-mails have an impact on the rate of house demolitions. For further information on how you can support our campaign against the destruction of Palestinian homes, expropriation of Palestinian lands, the building of massive by-pass roads throughout the West Bank and setlement expansion, please contact us.

In Peace,

Jeff Halper,
Coordinator, ICAHD
Rehov Tiveria 37
Jerusalem, Israel
Tels: (972-2) 624-8252; (972-2) 563-7731; (972-9) 952-3261
Fax: (972-2) 566-2815
e-mails: halper@iol.co.il, rhr@inter.net.il
Web Site: http://www.net-a.org/hdemol

Here's a sample text, followed by email addresses that can be used to register your protest:

(Text originally from Gila Svirsky)

Dear _______________,

The demolition of Palestinian homes must end at once. These acts of destruction have always been unconscionable ethically and politically; now they have reached new lows of brutality.

In the name of decency, in the spirit of Ramadan and the Judeo-Christian heritage, stop these bulldozers from destroying people's lives!

Respectfully,

________________

Please send to any or all of the following:

US OFFICIALS

President Bill Clinton Email: President@Whitehouse.gov

Hillary Rodham Clinton Email: First.Lady@Whitehouse.gov

Secretary of State Madeline Albright Email: secretary@state.gov Fax: (202) 736-4461

Vice President Al Gore Email: Vice.President@Whitehouse.gov

US Ambassador to Israel Ted Walker: Fax in Israel: (+972-3) 510-8083; Fax in US: (202) 736-4461 attn: Trish Costilancik

For direct info of US Congresspeople's faxes, emails and local addresses, see http://congress.org/congdir.html

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

Prime Minister Jean Chretien Fax: (613) 941 6900 Email: pm@pm.gc.ca

Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy Fax: (613) 996 3443 Email: axworl@parl.gc.ca

ISRAELI OFFICIALS ABROAD

Embassy in Washington, DC Fax: (202) 363-4156 Email: ask@israelemb.org

Embassy in Canada Fax: (613) 237-8865 Emails: an390@freenet.carleton.ca or embisrott@cyberus.ca

Mission to the UN Email: IsraelUN@aol.com

Consul in NY Shmuel Siso Email: nycon@interport.net

Consul in Chicago Email: homepage@israel.org

Consul in Houston Email: isramail@insync.net

Consul in Los Angeles Email: israinfo@primenet.com

Consul in Miami Email: israelmi@gate.net

Consul in Philadelphia netl@israphl.org

Consul in San Francisco israeli@holonet.net

ISRAELI OFFICIALS IN ISRAEL

President Ezer Weizman Fax: (+972-2) 561-0037

Prime Minister Netanyahu Fax: (+972-2) 566-4838 or 651-3955 or 651-2631 Email: pm@pmo.gov.il or feedback@pmo.gov.il

Israeli Government Press Office Email: gpo@pmo.gov.il

Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai Fax: (+972-3) 691-6940

Internal Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani Fax: (+972-2) 584-7872

Justice Minister Tzachi HaNegbi Fax: (+972-2) 628-5438 or 670-8722

Head of Civil Administration in Occupied Territoriess: General Mandi Or Fax: (+972-2) 997-7356

Legal Advisor to Occupied Territories: Adv. Shlomo Politos Fax: (+972-2) 997-7326

Spokesman for Civil Administration in Occupied Territories: Peter Lerner Fax: (+972-2) 997-7018

MK Shimon Peres (Labor) Email: speres@parliament.gov.il

MK Ehud Barak (head of Labor Party) Email: ebarak@parliament.gov.il

MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) Email: rancohen@parliament.gov.il

MK Eli Goldschmidt (Labor) Email: goldsmdt@parliament.gov.il

MK Uzi Landau (Likud) Email: ulandau@parliament.gov.il

MK Alex Lubotzky (Third Way) Fax: (+972-2) 691-8475 Email: alexlub@path.huji.ac.il

MK Haim Ramon (Labor) Email: hramon@parliament.gov.il

MK Ruby Rivlin (Likud) Fax: (+972-2) 675-4186