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Bedouin Family, Jayyous Farmers Caged by the Wall

Action Alert 22/09/03: Bedouin Family, Jayyous Farmers Caged by the Wall

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

In the farming village of Jayyous in the West Bank of Palestine, the Israeli Governments' "Separation Wall" snakes about 6 km. inside the internationally recognized "Green Line", or boundary between Israel and Palestine, separating villagers from their fields and in some cases, their homes. Such is the case of the Bedouin Abu-Amar family which consists of 4 school-aged children, a shepherd, and his wife. Upon completion, the Wall is expected to extend some 650 km in length, which will confiscate or destroy over 150,000 dunams (approximately 37,000 acres) of Palestinian land.

Daily access to the land has become a snarl of arbitrary restrictions and regulations set up by the Israeli Military. There are presently two gates, in the west and the south of Jayyous, that are now completely controlled by the Israeli Military. Prior to the wall, there were ten dirt roads completely accessible to the farmers at all times. The Abu-Amar family face unique circumstances, since their home is located roughly half a kilometer beyond the South Gate, and now depend on the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) for access to their village. For more than a week now the lock on the gate has been missing, yet farmers and the Abu-Amar family wait sometimes for hours for the IDF to arrive and let them through, afraid of the repurcussions the army has threatened them with should they pass without permission.

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The existence of the Wall makes simple tasks like going to the market or filling their water pump an ordeal requiring coordination with local community groups and ISM volunteers, who have also been asked to accompany the children twice daily through the gate to go to and from school. When ISM volunteers reached the gate today, Sep. 21, 2003 to assist in a water tank delivery and to accompany the Abu- Amars to their home, Israeli construction workers had erected a second gate beyond the South gate, blocking the entrance to the pathway of the Abu-Amar home. This new gate stands 9 ft. high and was shut upon our arrival today, making it impossible for vehicles, water tanks, or donkey carts to enter. This fence was erected without notice to the village or the Abu-Amar family. According to the information given to ISM by the Israeli workers, the construction of a 6 ft. high (2 m) coiled razor wire fence to extend for about 1 or 2 km in either direction from the new gate is expected. Not only will this second gate severely impact the lives of the Abu-Amars, but it will also prevent farmers from reaching their fields on the south side of Jayyous during the upcoming Olive Harvest.

It is essential that this family have complete access to the village on a regular basis. The people of Jayyous and the entire West Bank in collaboration with ISM call upon the international community to respond to this clear violation of human rights by calling the numbers/addresses listed below.

For more information from the people in Jayyous:

In English: Tracie 067723326 (from within Palestine) or +972- 67723326 (from outside of Palestine) In Arabic: Mohammed 055760350 (from Palestine) or +972-55760350 (from outside of Palestine)

YOU CAN ASSIST BY DOING ONE OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:

Making phone calls to numbers listed below/sending faxes

Letters to Authorities ** see addresses below

It is recommended to send letters of protest on behalf of the Palestinian farmers and to protest the building of the 2nd gate and coiled razor wire fence at the home of Abu Amr to: Mr. Shaul Mofaz, Minister of Defense Ministry of Defense 37 Kaplan St. Tel-Aviv 61909 Israel

E-mail: sar@mod.gov.il or pniot@mod.gov.il Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15

----------------- Mr. Ariel Sharon Prime Minister Prime Ministers' Office Qiriat David Ben-Gurion Jerusalem Israel

E-mail: webmaster@pmo.gov.il Fax: ++972-2-566-48-38 / ++972-2-651-26-31

----------------- Brig. Gen. Menachem Finklestein Chief Military Attorney General Military postal code 9605 IDF Israel

Fax: ++972-3-569-43-70

You can also protest to the local Israeli embassy, you can find the addresses on the web:

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfh/Eng/Ntz/Ntz_Israel.asp?seek=1&let=85

Please be aware that writing to the media at this time is more important than ever given the level of awareness about the Separation Wall...

Here are some addresses of Israeli media:

Ma'ariv: 2 Karlibach st. Tel-Aviv 67132 Israel Fax: ++972-3-561-06-14 editor@maariv.co.il

Yedioth Aharonoth: 2 Moses st. Tel-Aviv Israel Fax: ++972-3-608-25-46

Ha'aretz (English edition): 21 Schocken st. Tel-Aviv, 61001 Israel Fax: ++972-3-512-11-56 letters@haaretz.co.il

Jerusalem Post: POB 81 Jerusalem 91000 Israel Fax: ++972-2-538-95-27 news@jpost.co.il

Jerusalem Report: Fax: ++972-2-537-94-89

Radio (fax numbers): Kol-Israel: ++972-2-531-33-15 & ++972-3-694-47-09 Galei Tzahal: ++972-3-512-67-20

Television (fax numbers): Channel 1: ++972-2-530-15-36 Channel 2: ++972-2-533-98-09

© Scoop Media

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