Update from the Land – #1 – May 31, 2014

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And the soldier’s child asked his soldier-father, “What did you do today, daddy?”
His reply, “I drove a bulldozer today.”
“Was it fun, daddy?”
“Oh, yes – it was lots of fun!”
“What did you do with the bulldozer, daddy?”
“I helped dig a big pit in the ground of our enemy – helped knock down almost 2,000 trees – buried them in the rubble of the ruined land.”
“What did you do today, child?”
“Oh, daddy, we had such fun, too!  We planted a lemon tree in our backyard – in our settlement home – overlooking the valley….”

*****************************

May 31, 2014

Dear Friends –

Daoud visited the devastated land for the first time mid-week.  The full scope of the destruction left him heartbroken, of course.  He told us that there was one lone fig tree left standing on the side of the hill (on purpose? by accident?) that was the sole witness to the work of the IDF soldiers.  It now stands as a living monument to what was lost – a lone sentinel that will someday have new friends, thanks to you.  The lawyers are still working with the courts – will update you as news comes in.

Please Note:  We know that many people want to organize trips and groups to help re-terrace the land and then re-plant the lost trees.  Daoud will need to have your long-term support for this, as he will be working hard at organizing a schedule of when, who and how this can be most productively done.  Please be patient with the process; this will take a long time, and there will be work enough for everyone over the next year or two – or maybe even three!

Please make note of the corrections/updates listed below; we had a bit of outdated contact information that made it into our Timeline and Petition Letter (my apologies):

  • Samantha Power is the current US Ambassador to the United Nations;
  • Email that will get notices forwarded to Daniel Shapiro, Ambassador of the US to Israel, is:  JerusalemACS@state.gov;
  • Replace the Israeli Foreign Service Desk (under US Department of State contact info) with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), headed by Assistant Secretary Anne Patterson.
  • Add to your US Department of State contact info:  Christopher P. Henzel, Director of Israel and Palestinian Affairs (met with Daoud in February 2014).

We have been told that the State Department needs to hear from Congress before taking any real stance on this issue.  If you haven’t already contacted your Senators and Representatives, please take time to do so now.  Here is an easy link for you to use (just one of many that have gone out):

Congressional action alert:
http://www.maryknollogc.org/alerts/tent-nations-trees-terraces-destroyed-israeli-military

Scroll down in the body of the text and click on Write your senators and representative…, fill in the information and Submit.  If you haven’t signed our FOTONNA Petition Letter yet, you can do so through this link, also.

There has been an overwhelmingly supportive response from around the globe from friends of the Nassar family and the work carried out at Tent of Nations.  Individuals and organizations have put together their own petition letters, written to political leaders, called influential leaders at all levels of government, written oped pieces for their papers, and carried out demonstrations in front of the Israeli Embassy in NYC.  Peace groups from all persuasions are standing in solidarity with this remarkable family.  FOTONNA alone had 2,500+ signatures on its petition as of May 28, 2014, and the list is growing.

Over the last week, with your help, we were able to accomplish the following:

  1. sent out our Timeline and Petition Letter to over 1,780 email address and 360+ snail mail addresses for FOTONNA;
  2. spoke to many groups in Washington state on the 2014 Tour during the time of the crisis – news hot off the press!;
  3. contacted religious leaders, US State Department officials, Consulate officials in Jerusalem, and have emailed letters to the White House and other politicians with whom Daoud had just spent time in early May;
  4. responded to literally hundreds of emails and phone calls over the last week;
  5. had interviews with several radio station hosts and journalists, including an interview with Melinda Tuhus – can read about it on www.btlonline.org or on her blog post:  http://www.melindatuhus.net/blog;
  6. participated in a national conference call through Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) with Daoud as the featured speaker – had 134 ‘listeners’ sign on;
  7. received over 80,000+ hits on Daoud’s facebook page within the first couple of days of the word spreading like wildfire over the air waves;
  8. had a huge spike in number of ‘likes’ on the FOTONNA facebook page during May 20-27:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-Nassar-Family-FarmTent-of-Nations-Demolition/107340499312794;
  9. on May 29, had all of the FOTONNA Petition Letter signatures (2,500+) and CMEP Petition Letter signatures (1,760+) (as of May 28) delivered by former Ambassador Warren Clark (Executive Director of CMEP) and Russell Testa (JPIC Animator for the Holy Name Province Franciscans) to John Kerry’s office through intermediaries US Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Martin Indyk, and Dr. Shaun Casey (both men acknowledge that they were aware of the situation on the land);
  10. received questions and advice from other organizations and individuals as to next steps to take so we present a united front and a consistent message from the Nassar family;
  11. received a videotape of Daoud’s May 18th presentation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, Washington – will be posted on the FOTONNA website; You can view the video here. and
  12. videotaped* a conversation with Daoud while in Arlington, VA on May 27 before he flew home; on Tuesday, June 3, a friend will be visiting with Daoud on the land and will be videotaping footage from the valley on the farm so you can see the true scope of the damage – should be available sometime during the end of the first week of June (please see the click-on Videos on the website).

*This video was done by ******** who flew in to Arlington from Austin, Texas on May 24th to add to the ongoing documentary on the Nassar family he will be producing over the next 2-3 years; he also traveled with Daoud and Bill Plitt on the first half of the Spring 2014 Tour in Washington, taping parts of the various presentations there.  You can help support this project by:

Please check out a 2012 blog post by Pastor Fred Strickert.  He and his wife Gloria served from July 2010 to December 2012 as ELCA Global Mission personnel in Jerusalem where Fred was Pastor of the English-speaking Congregation at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the heart of the Old City and also Special Assistant to Bishop Munib Younan of the ELCJHL.  They got to know the Nassars very well during their stay there.

http://walkinjerusalem.blogspot.com/2012/12/we-refuse-to-be-enemies.html

We will not be sending any more email updates to you directly at this point.  Please keep in touch at www.fotonna.org and www.tentofnations.org with our ongoing updates as they are sent from Daoud.  FOTONNA and Tent of Nations will post them as often as needed, and we will be making specific “ASKS” from you when the political and legal picture becomes clearer over the next few days and weeks.  At this point, we are going to:

  1. prevent any more destruction on the land;
  2. keep up the pressure on the courts to finally re-register the land in the Nassar family name; and
  3. support the Nassar family as they seek financial recompense from the Israeli Military for their illegal actions and for the incredible loss of twelve years of hard work, 1,500-2,000 lost trees and grape vines, lost revenue from the sale and/or use of the fruit, etc.

We cannot thank all of you enough for the wonderful responses you made to our appeals for support.  It is also nearly impossible to capture the breadth, depth and width of this movement worldwide.  We are just a small piece in this whirlwind of action – small, but fierce – and there will be justice in the end.

In solidarity and with deep gratitude for all of you –

The FOTONNA Steering Committee:
Bill Plitt, Executive Director
Daoud Nassar, Director of Operations
Bill Mims, Secretary
Nadia Itraish, Outreach and Advisory Council Liaison
Michael Phillips, Fundraising and Business Advisor
Beth Moore, Tour Coordinator
Kay Plitt, Finance/Communications
Mark Braverman, Senior Consultant

FOTONNA Emergency Response Plans Petition Letter Included

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May 20, 2014

The Tent of Nations Peace Project came under an unwarranted, illegal and unannounced attack on May 19, 2014 by the Israeli Military.  They brought in bulldozers and destroyed between 1,500 and 2,000 mature, fruit-bearing apricot and apple trees and grape vines in the lower valley on the farm.  In addition, they reduced the terraced land to rubble in order to prevent any future planting from taking place any time soon.  We would like to have you sign the petition letter, and if you are inclined, add your own personal note of protest and request for action/inquiry on behalf of the Nassar family.  We encourage you to forward this letter far and wide.  There is a time when you have to say, “Enough is Enough!”

Sign The Petition

 

Petition Letter: Download Printable Version – Word Doc | PDF

 

Thanks for taking the time to help the Nassars at this time; we will forward your responses to the following:

This petition letter is being written in protest of the actions by the Israeli Military Courts against the Nassar family and their Tent of Nations Peace Project.  This family has documentation of ownership for their 100-acre farm, located just six miles southwest of Bethlehem in the West Bank, dating back to the Ottoman Empire.  They have been working through the Israeli Military/Civil Courts and the Israeli Supreme court since 1991, defending their ownership rights to this land called Daher’s Vineyard.  So far, they have been able to hold back serious threats with legal challenges/appeals through the courts.  In December 2012, new demolition orders were issued for 10 structures on the farm (including animal pens, compost toilets, temporary tent structures, cisterns, etc.) and three more structures were added in January 2013.  None of these structures poses a security threat to neighboring Israeli settlements.

The family protested these actions through their lawyer; they applied for new building permits for all 13 structures.  In addition, they submitted the following information by February 24, 2013:

  • Additional land survey maps:  one topographical map which shows the farm location in the region; two technical maps, one at 1/250 scale and the other 1/50,000 scale, which show the new structures and their locations and dimensions;
  • Plans for sources of providing electricity and water to the land from the village and for provisions for gray water and filtration systems;
  • Approval/signature of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, certifying that the land is agricultural land.

As of mid-April 2014, there had been no word from the Military Court as to their decisions regarding these matters; the family never knows what to expect or when to expect it.  In late April/early May 2014, however, the Military Authorities placed a warning on the land declaring that the trees were planted on “State Land” and, therefore, constituted a trespass and should be “evacuated”!  On May 5, the Nassar family filed an appeal with the Military Court against this order and clarified that the land was not “State Land” and that the trees were planted on the family land.  Furthermore, they clarified that the Supreme Court had declared that the Nassar family should continue with the “re-registration” process of their land.

According to the law, no demolition or evacuation is allowed once an appeal is filed and until a final verdict has been delivered.  In spite of this fact, however, they rushed to destroy the land and uproot the trees.  On May 19, 2014, the Israeli Military brought in bulldozers and, unannounced, illegally destroyed between 1,500 and 2,000 mature, fruit-bearing apricot and apple trees and grape vines in the lower valley on the land as well as reducing the terraced land to rubble.  We would like you to look into this situation as soon as possible and help us prevent any additional destructive action on the part of the Israeli Military from taking place.  This family lives by the motto “We Refuse to be Enemies” and is committed to solving issues in a non-violent manner.  This 22-year struggle must come to an end in a just and legal manner and we urge you to use your influence to ensure that justice does prevail in this case.

Sincerely,

Friends of Tent of Nations North America – Steering Committee:
Bill Plitt, Executive Director
Daoud Nassar, Operations Director
Bill Mims, Secretary
Nadia Itraish, Outreach/Advisory Council Liaison
Michael Phillips, Fundraising/Business Advisor
Beth Moore, Tour Planning
Kay Plitt, Finance/Communications
Mark Braverman, Senior Consultant

May 20, 2014 – Timeline of Events

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Timeline of Events

Dear Friends – The last time we called for action on the part of supporters of Tent of Nations, you all rallied within hours to write letters of personal concern and support for the Nassar Family.  Those letters helped stop what could have been very destructive action on the farm by the Israeli Military.  Every comment was deeply appreciated, and we need your support one more time in light of the latest action by the Israeli Military.  We will be sending you a Petition Letter to sign and forward, but your own personal note or letter carries much more power.  We encourage you to do both!

  • In 2009, on two separate occasions, Israeli soldiers forced their way onto the property, conducting searches of family members and internationals and threatening to return with eviction papers.  They never followed through on that particular threat.
  • In May of 2010, they did issue nine demolition orders to remove buildings, tents, animal sheds and restrooms which they claimed the family had no permission to build.  The Nassars went to court to stop the demolitions, and no action was taken on the part of the Military courts.
  • In April 2011, a court decision was made, without the family’s lawyer present, to follow through on the demolition orders because of a plan to build an Israeli-only road nearby.  The lawyer intervened and, to date, no action has taken place.
  • On February 14, 2012,  as the family was working in the ‘Trees of Life’ orchard, volunteers found, in three different places (under rocks and tacked onto trees), papers with maps signed by the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria (which is the Israeli Military Government) giving them 45 days to appeal their claim to the land or the land would become State Land.  This order covered one-third of the existing 100-acre farm.  The family lawyer filed an appeal immediately.  Many other Palestinian farmers discovered similar notices under rocks on their land.  To date, there has been no decision on the appeal.
  • On Monday, May 19, 2012, demolition orders were posted on a portion of the farm in the valley in the same manner as the earlier notices.  This time the authorities identified a cistern which has been in use for ten years that was scheduled to be demolished within three days.  While the order was contested, the Court ruled in favor of the military, but no action has been taken.
  • Other acts of harassment have occurred on a regular basis.  On May 5, 2012, civil authorities came and removed the barricade on the road that connects both the farm and the village of Nahalin to Route 60, the main north/south highway in the area.  The next day, the bulldozer came and re-barricaded the road, thereby preventing any movement by local residents.  Palestinians now, in order to travel between Bethlehem and the Nassar family farm, must travel through the villages of Nahalin and Husan.  This is a burdensome detour for them as well as for the 20,000 villagers affected by these new regulations.
  • On December 13, 2012, military trucks and large jeeps entered the west side of the village of Nahalin and destroyed olive trees that grow between the village and the settlement of Beitar Elit in the west.  Immediately after doing so, they drove to the east side of the village, near Daher’s Vineyard (the family property) and uprooted several fruit trees belonging to village farmers in addition to trees on the Vineyard.
  • On December 16, 2012, the Nassar family received notice that their appeal to the Military Court had been denied.  The Nassars were given 45 days (January 30 deadline) to demolish the structures themselves or reapply for permits which will cost them $1,500 per structure.  Under the ‘New Rules’ they will also need to submit a zoning plan and sign an agreement that, if the permits are denied, they will pay for the costs of demolishing the structures.  The Nassars are trying to determine the intentions of the Israelis in the hope that access to the farm can be preserved.  They have reapplied again for permanent registration of their land.  As always, the family wishes to proceed calmly, constructively and legally.

On January 31, 2013, the family lawyer was told the following:

The family must reapply for all previous permits (13) including the more recent structures, such as:  big tent, cistern near home, a cistern in the valley, and the office trailer.  They must do this with the understanding that for those structures denied a permit, the Nassars must demolish them at their own expense.

  • They must submit additional land survey maps:  one topographical map which shows the farm location in the region; two technical maps, one at 1/250 scale and the other 1/50,000 scale, which show the new structures and their locations and dimensions.
  • They must submit plans for sources of providing electricity and water to the land from the village and for provisions for gray water and filtration systems.
  • They must apply for approval/signature of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, certifying that the land is agricultural land.

All submissions were due by February 24, 2013;
the family was able to meet each of the criteria set out for them.
The courts have not as yet responded to the Nassars appeals
or requests for building permits.

  • In January 2014, three “stop cultivation” orders were found on the land.  The Nassars had their lawyers look into the situation, but the courts have not responded to these appeals, either.
  • In early May 2014, 1,000 dunums (250 acres) of land bordering the road leading to the farm and south of the nearby village of Nahalin were declared as State Land; this was land owned by other Palestinian farmers.  The old blockade to the road leading to the farm was enlarged with additional piles of rubble and boulders, making it even more difficult to walk from the road to the Tent of Nations Peace Project site.
  • In late April, the Israeli Military authorities placed a warning on the land declaring that the trees were planted on “State Land” and, therefore, constituted a trespass and should be “evacuated”!
  • On May 5, 2014, the Nassar family filed an appeal with the Military Court against the order.  According to the law, no demolition or evacuation is allowed once an appeal is filed and until a final verdict has been forthcoming.
  • On May 19, 2014, the Israeli Military bulldozed between 1,500 and 2,000 mature, fruit-bearing apricot and apple trees and grape vines growing in the lower valley of the farm and destroyed the terraced land that had been cleared for planting.  There was no forewarning given, and this was an illegal act on the part of the IDF.

As you know, the Nassar Family Farm/Tent of Nations Peace Project has a long history of modeling peaceful co-existence with its neighbors through teaching courses and providing workshops and conferences for women and youth.  It also provides opportunities for internationals, Israelis and Palestinians to unite in solidarity around a common dream of a just peace.  You have been a part of that journey through your support.  For some of you, a visit to the farm itself has made it even more personal.  In 2013, 7,000 international visitors were welcomed to the land by the Nassar family.  Some were volunteers who worked the land and others were volunteers who taught a variety of workshops in the Women’s Education Center in Nahalin or helped with the Summer Youth Camps.  Others included church groups, religious leaders from all faiths, and interfaith peace delegations.  We are hoping that all of you will take time to stand with the Nassar family and place as much pressure as possible on your church leaders, political representatives, State Department, and even the White House to ensure that no more unwarranted destruction takes.

We will continue to keep you updated on our website at:  www.fotonna.org.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.

With deep gratitude for your support – Bill Plitt, Executive Director – FOTONNA Steering Committee

Sample appeal letter: Download Printable Version – Word Doc | PDF

Dear (church/community leader, etc.),

I/we are writing this letter to call for action against acts of injustice by the Israeli Military towards a Palestinian Christian family (the Nassar family) that has registration papers for their 100-acre farm dating back to the Ottoman Empire.  The family has been working through the Israeli Military/Civil Courts and the Israeli Supreme Court since 1991 to defend their rights to the land on a vineyard just six miles southwest of Bethlehem in the Occupied Territories of Palestine (the West Bank).  A Peace Project was established on the land in 2001 called Tent of Nations.  Thousands of international visitors have visited the farm, worked as volunteers, held workshops and conferences in the facilities there, worked in the Summer Youth Camps, and have taught in the Women’s Education Center they established in the nearby village of Nahalin.

On May 19, 2014, the Israeli Military took unwarranted and illegal action and destroyed between 1,500 and 2,000 mature, fruit-bearing apricot and apple trees and grape vines growing in the lower valley of the farm.  We are appealing to you to contact appropriate congressional committees and members of Congress regarding this issue.  In addition, we ask that you contact the White House, the State Department, the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, our Ambassador in Tel Aviv, and the Consulate General in East Jerusalem (see the attached contact list).

In the past, (December 2012), Israeli Military/Civil Courts threatened to demolish 13 structures on the land (pens for animals, tents for volunteers, compost toilets, etc.) and denied the family’s appeal against these 13 demolitions.  By appealing these orders through the family lawyers, however, the deadline for action was moved to February 24, 2013.  At the same time, the family also requested (again) that the land be re-registered in their name (having all the papers legally required to prove ownership).  The family provided all additional information requested by the Military Court by that date, and they submitted and paid for requests for building permits for the existing 13 structures placed under the demolishing orders.

In late April 2014, the Israeli Military placed a warning on the land declaring that the trees were planted on “State Land” and, therefore, constituted a trespass and should be “evacuated”!  The family filed an appeal on May 5; they were waiting for a court decision on these issues, and that is what makes the destruction of these trees illegal.

We would like you to inquire about this issue and why this vendetta against the Daher’s Vineyard is taking place.  Israel needs to be held accountable for its actions against a family that lives by the motto ‘We Refuse to be Enemies’ and that believes in non-violence as a solution to the problems there.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at _______________________________.

Regards,

(individual or organization)

May 19, 2014 – Message from FOTONNA

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FOTONNA Emergency Response Plans
Information Letter, Timeline of Events
and Sample Appeal Letter

Dear Friends of Tent of Nations,

We are writing this letter to call for action against acts of injustice by the Israeli Military towards the Nassar family farm and theirTent of Nations Peace Project.  This farm (known as Daher’s Vineyard) is located just six miles southwest of Bethlehem in the Occupied Territories of Palestine (the West Bank).  As you know, this family has registration papers for their 100-acre farm dating back to the Ottoman Empire, and they are now in a situation where the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) brought in bulldozers on May 19, 2014 and destroyed between 1,500 and 2,000 mature, fruit-bearing apricot and apple trees and grape vines, all in the lower valley of the farm.  This move was totally unexpected as their latest case for proving ownership has been in the Israeli Military/Civil Courts since February 2013.  An appeal was also made on May 5 to protest a warning placed on the land in late April 2014 that declared the land as “State Land” and should be “evacuated”. There was no warning ahead of time about the impending destruction, however (as is the usual case), so the Nassars were caught off guard with the wanton destruction that took place.  In addition to the destruction of the trees, the terraced land on which the trees were planted was also destroyed, left in a state of rubble that cannot currently be re-planted.

 

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We are appealing to you to contact appropriate congressional committee members, members of Congress, and others you know who may have some influence in this kind of situation; this can include your church leaders as well and an article in your local newspaper would be more than welcome.  We are including a short letter and a timeline of past events you can use to educate people about the details of this farm’s history as well as a sample letter you can use to send out if you’d like.  In particular, we ask that you contact the U.S. Department of State, the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, the U.S. Ambassador in Tel Aviv, and the Consulate General in Jerusalem and ask them to investigate the circumstances surrounding this travesty.
We urge you to contact the authorities referenced below immediately as well as others you know personally.  You have our permission to use information from this letter in your appeals. We would like to have you act on this information as soon as you can in the hopes that we can prevent any more destruction from taking place on Daher’s Vineyard.

Sincerely,

Bill Plitt – Executive Director – on behalf of the FOTONNA Steering Committee

Authorities to Contact: