In recent weeks the Israeli government
has taken two related series of actions on Palestinian land and against
Palestinian property that make prospects for peace between the Israelis and the
Palestinians more difficult.
The Israeli military has resumed
construction of the separation wall in the Cremisan Valley in the West Bank
after the Israeli High Court in July effectively reversed its decision in the
spring to prevent the wall from being constructed between the Salesian Sisters
Convent and the monastery of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
His Beatitude Fouad Twal, the Latin
patriarch of Jerusalem, issued a press release last month, strongly condemning “this Israeli conducted
operation, which is without regard to the rights of the families of the valley;
the rights that these same families have bravely tried to defend before the law
over the past decade. We join with the sorrow and frustration of these
oppressed families, and we strongly condemn the injustice done to them.” He
called on the Israeli authorities to halt work on the wall before a decision
was made on a petition submitted by the families of the valley.
The Association of International
Development Agencies (AIDA), a coordination forum of international
nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations working in the occupied Palestinian
territory, issued a statement recently that drew attention to a surge in home demolitions
by the Israeli army in August. They determined that demolitions in one recent
week “rendered 132 people homeless, including 82 children, accounting for a
quarter of the displacement from demolitions in 2015 and marking the highest
number of people rendered homeless from demolitions in nearly three years.”
The AIDA statement also noted, “These
demolitions are being carried out against the backdrop of the government of
Israel’s plan to ‘relocate’ 7,000 Palestinians living in 46 communities
throughout Area C. The international community has repeatedly called on the
government of Israel to cancel the ‘relocation’ plan. The plan affects Bedouin
and herding communities in the central parts of the West Bank, including the E1
area around Jerusalem, where the government of Israel plans to expand
settlements, which are illegal under international law.”
In view of this disturbing and
destructive series of actions, write your representative and senators to urge
them to call upon the Israeli government to halt these harmful actions
immediately and avoid further hostile activities that dim the prospects for
peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Help build peace for Israelis and Palestinians. Click here to contact yourrepresentative and senators today.
Visit pcusa.org/boycott to do more to stop the settlements.
Visit pcusa.org/boycott to do more to stop the settlements.
