PHONE CALL SCRIPT for use with your elected officials
Use these links to obtain the contact information for your representative and senators.
• House of Representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
• Senate: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?OrderBy%253Dstate%2526Sort%253DASC
State what you are asking your representative/senator to do:
“I am calling to ask Senator or Representative ____ to urge State Department officials to continue to pressure Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) to hold the often-delayed court hearings and to complete re-registration of the Nassar family’s land.
- Provide a brief synopsis of the situation:
The Nassar family, a Palestinian Christian family, has owned, lived on, and farmed their land since 1916 and have legal documentation of their ownership. - The family practices sustainable farming and has opened the farm for local and international visitors to come and learn. Over 10,000 pilgrims visit the farm each year, and find there a sense of hope in the midst of this conflicted situation.
- The Nassars have been in the Israeli Military and Supreme Courts since 1991 defending their ownership, and seeking to re-register their land as is required by Israeli law for Palestinians living in area C of the West Bank.
- Since the start of the re-registration process in December 2021 eight hearings have been scheduled (some of which have been postponed) and the Re-registration committee has refused to come to a decision.
- In hearings during 2023, the Committee again delayed a decision, by allowing a party contesting the Nassars’ ownership (whose objections to the Nassar family’s ownership they had previously dismissed) to return to the hearings.
- I think this is an urgent matter, and I am particularly concerned about the proposed changes to the judicial system in Israel, that could restrict the right of Palestinians to access the Israeli Supreme Court . This would have dire consequences for the Nassars. If the Committee refuses to re-register the Nassars’ land, their access to appeal this decision will be closed.
- The farm’s location on a hill, surrounded by five illegal Israeli settlements, makes it vulnerable to the creeping annexation underway in much of Area C. The annexation of Palestinian land and settlement spread is contrary to U.S. policy and is an impediment to a just solution.
I urge you to take action.
End the call by offering additional materials:
“I would like to provide you with additional information that you can use in your call or written communication with the State Department, including a letter template. Please call me at (phone number) or email me at (email address).”