Dear friends, partners, and peace with justice activists,

In light of the escalating attacks of Israeli settlers and soldiers on Palestinian farmers, land and olive trees, as well as the coming Israeli elections which will clearly result in a very right wing and more aggressive government leading to increased apartheid and occupation measures against Palestinians;

We, the Joint Advocacy Initiative (JAI) of the East Jerusalem YMCA and YWCA of Palestine, call on our friends, partners, and peace with justice activists around the world to make a strong stand this year in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause for freedom by expressing your call for real practical change and continued pressure on Israel to end the occupation.

On Thursday the 29^th of November, the UN assigned International Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People, we call you to organize actions and activities of solidarity individually and/or with your Church congregation/group, YMCA/YWCA movement, solidarity group, university or school students…etc. You can also join actions and activities organized by Palestinian solidarity groups in your country or area.

Actions Suggested:

• Protest in front of the Israeli embassies and diplomatic missions in your countries, to be held on that day.
  
  
• Send clear individual or (preferably) collective letters to your Minister of Foreign Affairs calling for practical steps and policies to put pressure on Israel to force it to respect human rights and UN resolutions, stop its unjust practices against Palestinians, and abide by international law.

Below is a sample letter.

PLEASE This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (shortly), on any action you take or join in this regard, and responses you may receive. It is very IMPORTANT for us to keep records of such.

Sample letter:

Minister of Foreign Affairs

We receive official reports and trustful information from our partners and friends in the occupied Palestinian territories of ongoing Israeli settlers and soldiers’ attacks on Palestinian land, farmers, trees, and homes, as well as ongoing occupation practices including daily arrestments of Palestinians, land confiscation, and movement restrictions.

On the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we/I express our deep concern and call upon you, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and government to show support of the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people, and put pressure on Israel to respect human rights and UN resolutions, stop its unjust practices and violations of international law, and end its occupation to the Palestinian territories.

We/I highly appreciate your practical response and measures taken.

Sincerely,

On Saturday October 6^th 2012, Salah family from Al Khader found out that more than 100 newly planted olive saplings in addition to 60 vine trees in an adjacent vineyard were cut down. The olive trees were among 300 olive trees planted on the Salah family's land (Dirar Abed Al Raheem Salah and Abdulhakim Salah) and 200 olive trees on the Nabhan family;s land. Both lands were planted on Monday, February 6^th 2012 during the 2012 olive planting program.

Link to news report: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=526501

The vines which were cut down belong to Younis Mahfouzh Mousa, a farmer from Al Khader.

The owners of the attacked lands believe that it was settlers from the nearby Newe Dannyel Settlement which is about a hundred meters away. Further, they believe the Israeli military is complicit in this attack as the area is covered with Israeli military surveillance cameras, and is very close to the bypass road known as route 60 where military patrols move back and forth day and night.

This attack by settlers on Palestinians and their property comes as the olive harvest season begins. During this season Israeli settlers increase their attacks on Palestinians and olive trees in general. Between October 1^st and 7^th Israeli settlers have been involved in at least 5 attacks in addition to this one.

Also, the Independent Commission for Human Rights has reported that Israelis (settlers and military) have been involved in some 300 violations of Palestinians rights during the month of September in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Finally, the olive trees that were chopped down were planted at Dirar Salah and were sponsored partially by 30 sponsors from USA, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan and Denmark. If you are from any of these countries or took part in the 2012 olive planting program please consider taking one of the following suggested actions:

• Sponsor an olive tree or call on your friends and other people you know to sponsor olive trees to be planted in fields that suffer the same type of risks.
  
  
• Write a letter to your countries representative in Tel Aviv, asking for a visit to the destroyed fields and affected farmers. Addresses of the foreign missions in Tel Aviv can be found here: http://www.science.co.il/embassies.asp
  
  Write a private and/ or public (through news papers) letter to the Israeli representatives in your country, sharing the story of the farmers, seeking explanation for what happened, and find out if there is a way to call those vandals to account.
  
  
• Try to bring this story to light using your local newspapers, radio, TV stations or any other media tools to shed light on the story.
  
  
• Please let JAI know in case you have decided to do something about this loss.