Advocacy YOU can get involved in to help Susya

Susya is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, comprised of a bit less than 400 people. The people initially lived on their land in caves, but were chased out by the israeli Army in 1986, to make way for an archaeological dig. They set up their homes on another part of their land, which were destroyed again in 2001, in response to the murder of an israeli settler (in 1993, a settler from Susiya killed a Palestinian villager from there, but of course their whole community was not punished like this). The people of Susya were denied permission to rebuild on their own land but did so anyways so they could have somewhere to live, and have been threatened with widescale destruction again in May 2015. Between 1986 and 2015, the community has been harassed by both israeli settlers and Army, and certain homes have been destroyed repeatedly.

For more information, please refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susya
http://rhr.org.il/eng/save-susya/

I have also been to Susya for a few days, feel free to see my blog from there and the rest of the Palestinian West Bank and israel.

www.hungryandthirstyforjustice.blogspot.com

I would like to encourage everyone to write letters and emails, and make phone calls to people in positions of political power, who can use some leverage to hopefully prevent the destruction of Susya.

Please be brief in your letters and emails and phone messages, and make sure you use facts about the situation. Please also be respectful. A profanity laced angry letter may make you feel better (and there is nothing wrong in being angry at this unjust situation, in fact, you should be), but it is much more likely to be disregarded than a firmly worded and accurate, yet civil letter or phone call or email.

For a comprehensive list of facts about the situation, I would highly recommend viewing the page below, designed by Rabbis for Human Rights.

http://rhr.org.il/eng/save-susya/



What is below is by no means an exclusive list.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCR). You can phone them at 41 22 917 9220.

Their email is InfoDesk[at]ohcr.org

For media inquiries, you can call the following telephone numbers: 41 22 917 9310, 41 22 917 9169, 41 22 917 9466, 41 22 917 9466.

Their email is Press-Info[at]ohcr.org



The website of OHCR, along with corresponding contact information, can be found below.

http://www.ohchr.org.../ContactUs.aspx



I would like to extend many thanks to my parents who found and texted this information to me, when I was in Susya, and had no internet access.





To contact israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, please use the contact information below.

http://www.pmo.gov.i.../ContactUs.aspx



I would also encourage non-israeli citizens to contact political leaders of your countries, to put pressure on israel to not go through with the demolition.



For Canadian citizens who are reading this blog, I would encourage you to contact Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and other ministers in our government.

Harper's contact information can be found below.

http://pm.gc.ca/eng/contactpm

To find the contact information of your local Members of Parliament, use the site below.

http://www.parl.gc.c...e.aspx?Menu=HOC



For American citizens who are reading this blog, I would encourage you to contact President Barack Obama and other politicians in the White House.

Obama's contact information can be found below.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact



For citizens of other countries, please go on Google and find the contact information of your political leaders.





Please write, email, and call your political leaders and anyone else you think would be a good idea to get a hold of, to apply pressure and prevent this crime from taking place,

If you, like me, believe in God, I encourage you to pray that the destruction of the village and homes of people is thwarted.



Thank you, and may He bless and reward your efforts.


PS If you are in israel or Palestine by any chance right now, please strongly consider coming down to Susya yourself and see what you can do to be useful in the struggle. If you want to do this, please feel free to send an email to cunliffe.peter123[at]gmail.com