Peace and Justice in Palestine/Israel

Salamaat,
We need letters written. I'm including a sample letter that came with the
following Memo from Gush Shalom
Sharon and Mofaz are still at provoking good people into desperate acts
...but the shepherds of Aqaba don't make headlines - a request for letter
writing

International release
October 17, 2005

We were preparing a message about Aqaba when there came the news of
the killing of three West Bank settlers. Two young women and a teen-age
boy killed, and others wounded in two simultaneous Palestinian
ambushes. The acts were claimed as retaliation for several recent killings
of Palestinians - among them a senior militia leader at Jenin, as well as of
three young Palestinians at the border of the recently evacuated Gaza
Strip.

The wider context of such horror is that in the West Bank bitterness is on
the rise. Negotiations between Sharon and Abu Mazen, or Peres and
Erekat fail before they really start and it also doesn't give people much
hope to see that in Gaza, after the withdrawal, the siege is not over and
that for every inch forward is needed months of hackling.

Of course, the many people who are not involved in acts of violence pay
the price. As just announced on Israeli TV, Defence Minster Mofaz reacted
by denying to Palestinian motorists the use of main West Bank highways,
reimposing sieges on the Palestinian cities and imposing numerous
checkpoints and roadblocks which were removed in the past months. (see
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/635373.html).


And now Aqaba.
By phone we got a bit of urgent news from the tiny village of Aqaba,
south-east of Jenin - a place where there had never been any violent
outbreak during the present or previous Intifada. Rather, the struggle of
Aqaba's few hundred inhabitants - and a hard, ongoing struggle it is -
consists of maintaining their daily routine of life, in face of a never-
ending harassment by the army.

This morning, soldiers have confiscated some fifty sheep belonging to the
Dabak family of Aqaba - the entire herd which provides meagre livelihood
to a family of thirteen. The 16-year old shepherd Muhammad Dabak went
to the army outpost, asking for the sheep to be released. He was beaten
up by the soldiers, and kept for several hours at the army position with
his hands tied behind his back. Finally, he was sent away empty-handed -
the sheep are still there.

This seems the peak of a new campaign of harassment which began two
weeks ago, targetting especially the tiny village's sheep herds. Sheep were
confiscated, as were the ID's of shepherds - who were afterwards
harassed or detained for the offence of... going abroad without an ID.
And the army also systematically set on fire the grazing fields in the
mountains around Akaba, with the clear purpose of denying fodder to the
sheep.

Occupation officials have made no secret of their opinion that Aqaba "just
should not be there', in the midst of what is considered "a strategic
military area". In the past, several earlier ploys - such as declaring all the
village homes to be "illegally built" - were defeated by international
protests, showing to the government and the army that what happens at
such godforsaken corners of the West Bank does become known to the
world at large. We ask you once again to participate in such a campaign.

Please write to the addresses in the end, either using the enclosed sample
letter or making your own text.
[

Dear Sir

Again I have to address you about Aqaba, a place where there had never
been any violent outbreak - neiher during the present nor the previous
Intifada. But it is in Aqaba that the Israeli military units in recent weeks
resorted to violent harassment against the village's shepherds. We were
informed about such acts as the confiscation of sheep herds, the
detention and beating up of shepherds as well as confiscation of the
I.D.'s, and the setting on fire of grazing grounds in the mountains around
Aqaba.

Specifically, I call upon you to take care that the army return forthwith to
its owners, the Dabak family of Aqaba, the herd of about fifty sheep
confiscated on the morning of October 16. Further, the military
authorities must find and punish the soldiers who had humiliated, beaten
up and detained in harsh conditions the 16-year old Muhammad Dabak,
whose sole crime was asking for the release of the sheep.

As the authority over an occupied population it is up to you to investigate
the arbitrary cruelty of your soldiers and correct such things when you are
informed about them. The international community holds you
responsible. Hurling accusations of terrorism can provide no excuse for
what is done to innocent people who are completely in your power.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
From Oct.14 - Nov.15, Palestinian Ayed Morrar and Israeli Jonathan Pollak
will be touring the US speaking about Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine.
They can be heard in New York, North Carolina, Washington D.C.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Olympia
Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida and Philadelphia.

Read more at: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4247.shtml
(including a complete tour schedule)
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Here follow the addresses to which we hope you will send your complaint;
the best is to send where possible NOT ONLY an email but ALSO a fax.

Send your complaint in the first place to:
The Civil Administration of the West Bank military government,
Fax: +972 2 9977326

+ copies

To:
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street, P O Box 187
Jerusalem 91919, Israel
Fax: +972 2 6705475
E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected], [email protected]


To:
Minister of Justice Tzippi Livni
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 6285438
E-mail: [email protected] (may bounce), [email protected],
[email protected]

To:
Minister of Defence Shaul Mofaz
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan St., Tel-Aviv 61909, Israel.
Fax: +972 3 6962757/16940/17915
e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

To:
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Silvan Shalom
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
9 Yitzhak Rabin Blvd., Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91035
Fax 972-2-5303367
e-mail:   
Foreign Minister's office - [email protected]
Director General's office - [email protected]
Spokesman's office - [email protected]
Public Relations - [email protected]


To: the nearest Israeli Embassy:

(Addresses of Israeli embassies worldwide can be found at
www.embassyworld.com/embassy/isreal1.htm or go to the Government
of
Israel website at www.info.gov.il/FirstGov/)

To:
President George W. Bush,
Fax: +1-202-456-2461;


To:
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice,
Fax: +1-202-261-8577;

To: the office of the special middle east coordinator fax:
+1 202 647 4808

To: Tony Blair, Prime Minister, Britain (Fax +44-207-925-0918)

And last but not least:

Copies to
Aqaba Municipality <[email protected]>
Gush Shalom <[email protected]>

Bismillah,

I just saw this today, Daniel.  Do you have an update?  I couldn't find anything more recent than the sheep have been returned, but they have nothing to eat.

Bismillah,

Thanks for the input, Brother Daniel.  I think they might care what powerful people think.  But let's try anyway.

Bismillah,

Dear Daniel, you and your family are in my prayers.   And I know you have a battalion of angels protecting you anyway.