I am writing to ask you to email a letter to your Senators and Representative, then call the senior staff for foreign policy at your senators and representatives offices in Washington DC regarding new demolition orders in Al Aqaba village and throughout Area C. You can find the email addresses and phone numbers at www.House.gov (enter your zip code) and www.Senate.gov (enter your state). I’ve included a template letter below – please email or fax it.
Call me (Donna) at 650 440-9667 if you need help or have feedback. I’ll be in DC on Thursday and Friday to meet with sister organizations to expand this campaign, and also to ask key senate and congressional staffers for assistance. Please call me if you would like me to meet with your senate or congressional staffer to coordinate schedules.
Representative. If you want to develop a close relationship with their senior staffer for foreign policy, please download our powerpoint, How to Call Congress
Sincerely,
Donna Baranski-Walker
Executive Director of the Rebuilding Alliance
below – please email or fax it. Cut and past this template letter into your email or download the MSWord Doc:
Your Name Here
Street Address, City, State Zip Code • Phone: xxx xxx
xxx • your email
Month Day, 2009
By Facsimile (their number here) or By Email (their email here)
The Honorable Rep. or Senator (Your congressperson’s or senator’s title and name here)
House of Representatives or Senate of the United States
Washington, DC 20515
Honorable (Your Representative or Senator title and name here):
Please call the Israeli Embassy and the U.S. State Department on my behalf to say that you care about peace and that you care about the Palestinian village of Al Aqaba. The Israeli Army has ordered demolition of a kindergarten that serves 130 students, the women’s sewing cooperative, nearly all the homes in the village, their mosque, and medical clinic. On Nov. 24, 2009, the Israeli Army stormed the village to issue new orders threatening 7 more families with the forced evacuation of their homes, animal shelters, and demolition of their new road. Demolition of Palestinian villages does not further the cause of peace. I know you are following with sadness the many stories of American families losing their homes to foreclosure because they cannot pay their mortgage. However, Palestinia families own their homes free and clear — their homes (and their life-savings invested in those homes) are being demolished because the Israeli Army has a long-standing policy of preventing, as much as possible, Palestinian construction in 60% of the West Bank known as Area C by refusing to issue building permits and then using this pretext to demolish homes.
This is not just happening to one or two homes. During the past 9 years, the entire area has been seeded with demolition orders from the Israeli Army’s Civil Administration. Since
August 2009 the Israeli Army has ordered demolition of 50 entire Palestinian neighborhoods. In fact, 130 Palestinian villages in Area C of the West Bank are impacted by the Israeli Army’s recent escalation in demolition and stop work orders. Al Aqaba village is one of these. Please use your calls to urge the Israeli government to rescind demolition orders against Palestinian neighborhoods. There is a ray of hope that can benefit from and requires your immediate help. Attorney Abdullah Hammad who represents Al Aqaba village, notes that the Israeli Army has yet to approve Al Aqaba’s new master plan. When you make your calls, please urge the State Department and the Israeli Embassy to assure Al Aqaba village and the other 130 Palestinian village in the Israeli-controlled Area C of the West Bank the right to self-determination, including the right to draw-up their master plans and issue building permits to secure their future — just like towns here in the U.S.
Please let me know what you learn in your calls. I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Your name and signature
P.S. The Israeli Human Rights group, BIMKOM: Planners for Planning Rights, has published a study entitled, The Prohibited Zone: Israeli planning policy in the Palestinian villages in Area C explaining the problem in detail. Peace Now reports that 94% of Palestinian requests for building permits are denied by the Civil Administration. The
Guardian in their April 15, 2008 article, “Area C strikes fear into the heart of Palestinians as homes are destroyed” reported that the Israeli Civil Administration granted Palestinians only 91 of 1,517 building applications, while during the same period 18,472 housing units were sanctioned and built in Jewish-only settlements.
