5759 From: Ami Isserof of PeaceWatch Subject: HOPE FLOWERS SCHOOL Dear friends, I am just back from Amman - where I finally got to meet my partner in PEACE - Ameen, to whose astonishing hospitality we are most greatly indebted - and likewise got to meet several other great new friends. More of that later - if you haven't been to Jordan - GO. I got the following message from Gene Sandretto of Hope Flowers School, which I am passing on to those who are anxious to hear the news. {From Gene Sandretto} Dear Friend(s) - Sorry for the anonymous 'meld' technique I'm applying here, but it's in the interest of letting many of you know as quickly as I can the outcome of today's Civil Adminstration hearing on the matter of the "stop work" order on construction at the Hope Flowers School. We will be sending a supplementary newsletter from the school's computer & server within a couple of days {insha'Allah - I say this esp. having tried to send one last week before going out of the country to renew my visa over the last weekend [done; accomplished], and lost the chance due to both insufficient electricity and server-connection problems, as well as shortage of time}. But I wanted to send to many of you whose breath might be baited on the matter, so that you would rest easier having some news. Some of you close friends to whom I'm writing will know this already, others not: We learned on 18 February that the Civil Administration was denying any intention of considering demolition of the school building itself - not the top two storeys, none of it. This seemed credible after conversations by me with one of their representatives AND by a representative of the U. S. Embassy in Tel-Aviv with a general in command of the Civil Administration. And again today in the hearing, which was witnessed by a political officer from the U. S. Consulate in Jerusalem, the three C. A. hearing officers affirmed that this review process that we have been called into is only for the outstructure at the base of the property. Their intelligence-gathering had given them the impression that this partial shell of a building (begun in late December principally in order to use up left-over building supplies from the main building's halted construction) was to become a residence for the school director. They wanted to see any evidence we had to the contrary, and to review the plans for this outbuilding, which we have now begun referring to as "the kitchen," where in future we might get to serve lunches to the students in longer school days in better times. I'm open to responding to questions about any skirted details that you might pose, but for now in the interest of time, I would like to tell you these points: We did succeed in securing the architectural drawings for the outbuilding, and paying the numerous additional taxes and fees for getting the papers certified, so that the permit application was made on time. The hearing officers were respectful and polite; all of them spoke Arabic, but consented to speak in English for those of us not fluent in either Hebrew or Arabic; they stated explicitly that it was the outstructure they were questioning and why; they told us exactly what architectural rendering they still needed from us and why; and they set a date for our return with that drawing for 12 April, after the three religions' spring holidays. In the process, they complimented the school's efforts for building peaceful relations between the peoples and repeated that they did not want to harm that. I will be writing more personally soon to each of you who has written to me about these events without answer so far. Thanks for being in our corner. I am hopeful that we might have much more good news in the next few months. This does not mean that we are anywhere near out of the woods, so please think in terms of continuing your support as you can through the working out of this set of trials. God bless you. Gene More about the Hope Flowers School  Table of Contents
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