October 9, 2004

HEBRON URGENT ACTION: Tell Israeli government to stop settler attacks on Palestinian schoolchildren, CPTers and other international accompaniers. For the second time in ten days, masked men from the Ma'on settlement have attacked internationals who have accompanied Palestinians to and from school. The September 29, 2004 attack resulted in a broken knee and arm

for CPTer Kim Lamberty and a punctured lung for CPTer Chris Brown. This afternoon, settlers attacked CPTers Diane Janzen and Diana Zimmerman and Amnesty International field researcher Donatella Rovera with wooden sticks and then attacked a volunteer from Operation Dove, an Italian peacegroup, breaking his arm (he was videotaping the assault.)

Settlers from Ma'on have been trying to drive out the Palestinian residents of this remote area in the Hebron District for years, physically assaulting them, killing their livestock and burning their crops. Because settler harassment of Palestinian children on their way to school in al-Tuwani had become progressively more vicious, CPT, along with Operation Dove and Taayush, an Israeli peace group, set up an accompaniment project beginning on September 12, 2004.

CPT is asking its supporters to fax or call the Israeli ambassadors to Canada and the U.S., saying they are aware of the attacks on the CPTers. (Canadians, note that Diane Janzen is a Canadian citizen.) Ask the following questions:

*Why are the Israeli police not protecting Palestinian children traveling to school in al-Tuwani? Note that harassment of the children has been ongoing and that the police appear to be choosing not to prevent further settler attacks on international volunteers

*What steps is the Israeli government taking to prevent these attacks?

*Why do the soldiers and settler security personnel prevent the children from walking on the road near Ma'on settlement to get to school, ignoring the permission the children have received from the Israeli District Coordinating Officer and the Israeli police to walk on that road?

* Does the Ambassador understand how allowing settlers to attack schoolchildren and internationals committed to nonviolence damages Israel's reputation?

People may also choose to fax Ariel Sharon, noting that he has closely aligned himself with settlers in the past, and asking him what steps he istaking to prevent further attacks. Note that he has ordered one of the Ma'on "outpost" settlements from which the attackers came demolished to

appease the Bush administration.

Contacts

[Note: The fax numbers for the Israeli embassy in Ottawa and for Prime

Minister Sharon were not picking up as of 2:00 on Saturday, possibly

because of the Jewish Sabbath. Try sending on Sunday or Monday.)

Israeli Ambassador to Canada, Haim Divon (Ottawa)

Fax: 613-237-8865

Phone: 613-567-6450

Israeli Ambassador to the United States (Washington,DC) fax: 202-364-5607

Phone:202-364-5500

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

Fax: 011-972-2-651-2631

Rich H. Meyer

cptcsd@npcc.net 

Phone 574-642-3963

Cell 574-202-3920