The Issue:

On Friday, May 14, Israel army bulldozers began razing dozens of homes in the Rafah refugee camp. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz authorized the army to demolish hundreds of Palestinian houses at Rafah, on the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, so as to create a "sterile" zone hundreds of metres wide. This is in addition to dozens of homes demolished or threatened with demolition in the Zeidun refugee camp in Gaza City. According to witnesses, panic-stricken residents are grabbing whatever belongings they can carry and are fleeing, some waving white flags at approaching Israeli forces.

The demolitions are being carried out as part of a campaign of collective punishment visited on the Palestinian population of Gaza after two Israeli army troop carriers were destroyed. The demolitions are part of an ongoing war against Palestinian civilians that goes far beyond terrorist attacks. So disproportionate is the Israeli response, so indiscriminate in its attacks upon an innocent civilian population - some 1,200 houses have been demolished in Gaza the past three years - that Israeli actions can only be described as state terrorism. Attacks on non-combatant populations, collective punishment and the demolition of homes are illegal under international law and constitute war crimes, as former Israeli government minister Yossi Sarid declared in the Haaretz newspaper.

Nor is this a response to terrorism. Indeed, the terror being visited upon the Palestinians in Gaza is part of Israeli state policy. The demolitions being carried out today are not merely a reaction to violence. They involve the implementation of plans formulated by the army in 2001, when the American peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed attempting to block bulldozers demolishing Palestinian homes.

The notion that Sharon intended to "disengage" from Gaza is disingenuous and misleading. He may dismantle Israeli settlements, but Sharon intends to keep full military control of Gaza, including the "sterile zone" at Rafah, keeping Gaza encircled within an electronic fence, maintaining a military and economic boycott of the sea and controlling Palestinian airspace. Rather than "disengagement," this consolidates the imprisonment of a 1.5 million Palestinians while strengthening the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In presenting the deaths of the soldiers as "terrorist attacks," the Israel government attempts to conceal the fact that they died as part of a military force invading Palestinian towns and cities in a brutal 37-year Israeli occupation that shows no signs of ending. To add to the tragedy and injustice, the camps and neighborhoods under attack are home to Palestinians made refugees by Israel in 1948.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), together with Gush Shalom and other Israeli peace and human rights organizations, calls upon supporters of peace and justice worldwide to mobilize their governments and civic organizations to act immediately against this war crime that is occurring before our very eyes. We call on you to raise your voices to stop the premeditated destruction of hundreds of Palestinian homes, most of them belonging to refugee families. Now is the time to act against the Sharon government's design to turn Gaza into a huge prison camp.

Background:

> AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT ON HOUSE DEMOLITIONS (May 18, 2004)
> UN Representative on Occupied territories 'horrified' at Israeli action in Gaza (May 19, 2004)
> Israel shows 'disregard for human life' in Rafah: EU presidency (May 19, 2004)
> White House Criticizes Attack in Israel (May 19, 2004, Kansas City Star)
> Israel begins destruction of "hundreds of homes" in Rafah (May 21, 2004, World Organisation Against Torture)

What You Can Do:

1. URGENTLY CALL, FAX OR WRITE YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TO STOP THE ISRAELI SIEGE OF NABLUS.

White House - President George W. Bush

E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov Washington Office: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500 Phone: (202) 456-1414 Fax: (202) 456-2461

Missouri

Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO - Washington Office: 274 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-2503 /  Phone: (202) 224-5721 Fax: (202) 224-8149

Senator Jim Talent (R-MO) - Washington Office: 493 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-2505 / Phone: (202) 224-6154 Fax: (202) 228-1518

Representative Karen McCarthy (D-MO 5th) - Washington Office: 1436 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-2505 / Phone: (202) 225-4535 Fax: (202) 225-4403

Representative Sam Graves (R-MO 6th) - Liberty Office: 113 Blue Jay Drive Suite 100 Liberty, Missouri 64068 / Phone: (816) 792-3976 / Fax: (816) 792-0694

Kansas

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) - Washington Office: 303 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-1604 / Phone: (202) 224-6521 Fax: (202) 228-1265

Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) - Washington Office: 109 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-1605 / Phone: (202) 224-4774 Fax: (202) 224-3514

Representative Dennis Moore (D-KS 3rd) - Washington Office: 431 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-1603 Phone: (202) 225-2865 Fax: (202) 225-2807

2. SEND AN URGENT PROTEST to the government of Israel, with copies to the relevant international bodies and media. You can use the following sample letter prepared by Gush Shalom:

------------------------
Dear Sir or Madam:

I call upon you to immediately stop the demolition of dozens of Palestinian homes going on at this moment at Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The authorization for the IDF to destroy hundreds of houses is an authorization by the government of Israel to commit a war crime. The killing of Israeli soldiers in this vicinity offers no justification for such an act, nor can it stop further bloodshed. Peace and security will only be achieved by a withdrawal of Israel's forces from the Occupied Territories, when the Gaza Strip becomes part of an independent Palestinian state.

Yours


[signed]

----------------------------
You can find the nearest Israeli Embassy at:
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/israel1.htm


You may also send a fax or email to:
Prime Minster Ariel Sharon: <pm_eng@pmo.gov.il>; fax: +972-2-6705475

Defence Minster Saul Mofaz: <sar@mod.gov.il>; fax: +972-3-6916940

Foreign Minster Silvan Shalom: <sar@mofa.gov.il>; fax: +972-3-6916940

Send copies to: Secretary of State Colin Powell: <secretaryofstate@USA.gov>;
Fax: +1-202-261-8577

 

3. WRITE A LETTER TO THE KC STAR AND OTHER LOCAL NEWSPAPERS DEMANDING FULL, ACCURATE REPORTING OF THE ATROCITIES AND HOUSE DEMOLITIONS | TIPS FOR WRITING LETTERS

Kansas City Star -- E-mail: letters@kcstar.com / Phone: (816) 234-4636 / Fax: (816) 234-4926 / Address: 1729 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64108-1458

Pitch Weekly -- E-mail: feedback@pitch.com / Phone: (816) 561-6061 / Fax: (816) 756-0502 / Address: 1701 Main St Kansas City, MO 64108

Independence Examiner -- E-mail: dbrendel@examiner.net / Phone: (816) 254-8600 / Fax: (816) 254-0211 / Address: 410 S Liberty St, Independence, MO 64050

Lee's Summit Journal -- E-mail: editor@lsjournal.com / Phone: (816) 524-2345 / Fax: (816) 524-5136 / Address: 415 SE Douglas St Lee's Summit, MO 64063

Olathe Daily News -- E-mail: odn@olathedailynews.com / Phone: (913) 764-2211 Fax: (913) 764-3672 / Address: 514 S Kansas Ave Olathe, KS 66061

4. Send an email to info@cjme.org and let us know that you attended the speech or wrote to the KC Star on this issue.