Rebuilding Alliance

17 Demolition Orders Delivered to Al Aqaba — please Call Congress

Donna Baranski — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:53:26 +0000

First, I thank you on behalf of Al Aqaba Village for your commitment to help Palestinian families build their homes on the land they own. Yours is a commitment to fundamental human rights — the right to housing, the rights of children, the right to healthcare, the right to employment, and the right to education — all that a neighborhood makes possible. So far, our Rebuilding to Remain program has raised $34,899 with 3 homes in construction. Also, one individual and two organizations have pledged to donate and/or raise the funds needed to each build a home! Our goal is to raise $852,000 to build 30 homes and keep them safe. We’ll soon hold speaking tours to spread the word.

Now the bad news.
Click here to watch
Morgan Bach’s
remarkable video.You may have already heard from the Israeli Human Rights groupGushShalom, that the Israeli Civil Admin just delivered 17 new demolition orders.Our visiting English teacher, Morgan Bach, lives on site in Al Aqaba. Morgan briefly interviewed the Israeli Civil Administrators who issued the new demolition orders then visited a family whose home was tagged.

These new demolition orders came a month after the meeting between Al Aqaba Mayor Haj Sami and Israeli Brigader General Moti Almaz. Mayor Haj Sami put all problems and issues to Brigadier General Almaz. “He answered ‘We will look into it’, ‘We will take care of it’.”

Mayor Haj Sami continues, “A few days ago, there arrived in our village the local representatives of the Civil Administration, a man named Yigal (he does not tell his family name) who started handing out demolition orders. Demolition orders for houses, for cattle sheds, even for the tabun bread ovens. Seventeen demolition orders in total. And he told us, ‘this whole village is illegal, everything must be destroyed.’ Is this the ‘looking into it’ which the Brigadier General promised us?”

Gush Shalom has written a letter to Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defense Minister, urging him to stop this cynical game. Rebuilding Alliance asks you to call or email your Senators and Representative to request they send their own letter to the Israeli Embassy and the U.S. State Department on your behalf as their constituent. Please ask for 3 things:

Press Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to recognize Al Aqaba Village’s right to exist by permanently rescinding demolition orders and acknowledging their urban plan.
Urge Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to stop demolishing Palestinian homes and livelihood structures especially while Palestinian communities are engaged in the very town planning required for issuance of building permits.
Lastly, ask your senators and representative to continue their efforts to end the expansion of Israeli settlements. The displacement of Palestinian families in Area C is the flip-side of this expansion.

I’ve pasted a template letter below. Please draw on this when you email your senators and representative. Please help the families of Al Aqaba hold their ground.

As always, please feel free to call our Rebuilding Alliance team as questions arise: 650 325-4663. To help families Rebuild to Remain in Al Aqaba, please Give Now.

___________________

TEMPLATE LETTER TO YOUR SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE
To find your senators or representative via GovTrack, click here

Dear ,

I am writing, as your constituent, to express my concern regarding the 29 demolition orders issued to the peaceful Palestinian West Bank village of Al-Aqaba by the Israeli Army since December 19th. I ask you to send a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on my behalf to request the Secretary press Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to specifically freeze all demolitions of Palestinian homes, schools, and shops, especially in Palestinian communities that are engaged in the very town planning required for the issuance of building permits.

Please express your opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, noting this as an obstacle to peace. To make room for settlements, displacement of Palestinian families doubled in the past year and demolitions increased significantly, especially in the most vulnerable communities.

In the past, the State Department has played an active role in protecting Al Aqaba homes from demolition. Please urge their active intervention now. Despite the villagers owning undisputed title to their land, over 90% of this village is under demolition orders “for lack of a building permit” — and building permit applications are not approved until the Israeli Civil Administration approves their urban plan. Over 10 years time, Al Aqaba Village submitted numerous building permit applications and three urban plans. The first two plans were denied. Though the Israeli Army has yet to reply to their third plan, 8 new demolition orders were issued on December 19th to three homes and five animal shelters. Another 17 demolition orders were issued on Jan. 25th.

As you may know, from 1983-2002 the Israeli army used this village for live fire training exercises until the Israeli High Court ordered the army to halt all training exercises in Al-Aqaba village. The Israeli Army complied and removed one training camp from the village grounds. Despite the loss of 12 lives and 36 seriously wounded (including the mayor who is in a wheelchair for life), the villagers have and remain determined to use only peaceful means to assure their village a future.

Al Aqaba’s commitment to being good neighbors has attracted worldwide support. A three-story kindergarten was built with the help of American NGO Rebuilding Alliance and the Japanese, Belgium, and Norwegian governments. A medical clinic was constructed with the aid of the British Foreign Service. 17 embassies, U.N. Agencies and NGO’s have invested in the village. Al Aqaba’s Town Council seeks to approve permits for affordable homes, good schools, a functional hospital, and a safe neighborhood in accordance with their town plan — the same basic rights that every town in America enjoys.

I am concerned that Al Aqaba Village is not alone. Over 12,500 demolition orders have been issued to Palestinian homes, schools and shops in the other 149 Palestinian villages in “Area C”, the area controlled solely by Israel. Bedouin neighborhoods are being pressured to relocate. On December 20, 2011, at the invitation of Al Aqaba’s Mayor Haj Sami Sadeq, Israeli Brigadier General Moti Almoz visited Al Aqaba to discuss the village’s plan to construct new, affordable homes. The Israeli Army has since confirmed that the Brigadier General does not have the authority to assure the village its right to exist. That decision must be made by the Minister of Defense.

Please ask the State Department to urge Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to recognize Al Aqaba Village’s right to exist by permanently rescinding demolition orders and acknowledging their urban plan. The U.S. must press him to stop demolishing homes and livelihood structures especially when Palestinian communities are engaged in town planning. Lastly, please continue your efforts to end the expansion of Israeli settlements. These significant steps will advance the neighborliness and goodwill needed to make peace.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Script For Congress

Naveen — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:40:27 +0000

Click here for the script to tell Congress to lift January demolition orders.

Rebuilding to Remain نبني لنبقى Chapter 7 October 17, 2011

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:01:58 +0000

Families from Al Aqaba Village ask your help to build colorful, eco-friendly homes on the land they own. 97% of this Palestinian West Bank Village is under demolition order by the Israeli Army. Families want to build their homes because otherwise their village will cease to exist. They will help with construction, repay affordable mortgage loans, and match your donation in this constructive fair housing initiative. Together, let’s share the risk and build advocacy to make them safe.

URGENT: Get the General to the Village

Donna Baranski — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:10:04 +0000

You may have already heard the tragic news that Thursday morning, without warning, the Israeli Army surrounded Al Aqaba Village, made 3 families homeless and ripped up Peace Street for a 2nd time.

There is a way to make this stop:

Get the General to the Village.

First, read Al Aqaba Mayor Haj Sami Sadeq’s letter below.

Next, call a staffer at your Senator’s, Representative’s, or President’s office to urge them to forward the Mayor’s letter to the Israeli Embassy on your behalf (details below).

Why it matters: Al Aqabah is just one of 149 Palestinian Villages facing demolition orders in Area C, that 60% of the West Bank governed solely by Israel. Israeli soldiers and bulldozers are now demolishing homes every day. According to BIMKOM, over 12,500 demolition orders are outstanding against Palestinian families who built homes on their own land — that means more than 125,000 people are at risk!

Lastly, please show Al Aqaba you care. Give $20, $200, or $1000 to help Al Aqaba’s villagers Rebuild and Remain on their own land in the village they love.

Palestinian Mayor’s Letter to Israeli Brig. General

September 17, 2011

Brigadier General Moti Almoz
Head of the Civil Administration in the West Bank
Israeli Army Base within Settlement Beit El

Dear Brig. General Almoz,

I write to you in my capacity of mayor of Al Aqaba, a village near Tubas in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank, because you are the Israeli Army commander who administers building plans and permits for 149 Palestinian villages, including mine.

No doubt you are aware that Thursday morning, Sep. 15, 2011, without notice, Israeli military bulldozers demolished a home and water cistern in Al Aqaba, leaving 22 people, including 12 children, homeless. The military bulldozers also ripped deep trenches through Peace Street — for the 2nd time — and destroyed another of Al Aqaba’s roads, deeply impacting the ability of our school bus to get nearly 200 children to and from school.

You may be unaware, however, that these demolitions occurred just three weeks after our village submitted its third Town Plan to the Israeli Civil Administration, revised yet again following denial twice before.

We were made aware by a B’Tselem article of your recommendation on September 6th to end Israel’s policy of demolishing Palestinian structures built without a permit in the 60% of the West Bank solely administered by Israel.

In your recommendation, you noted that Israel’s discriminatory planning policy makes it impossible, in practice, for Palestinians to build with permits in Area C – and that has been our experience.

For twenty years, from 1983 to 2003, the Israeli Army used our homes for live-fire training exercises. During this time, 12 villagers were killed and 36 were wounded. All were innocent civilians. I was one of them. At the age of 16, I was shot three times in the back and have been in a wheelchair ever since.

When the Israeli High Court required the army to remove its training camp from Al Aqaba’s land in 2002, we celebrated with positive action to rebuild our community. On village-owned land, we built a kindergarten (with help from the American NGO Rebuilding Alliance and the Japanese, Belgium and Norwegian governments) and a medical center (with help from the British). However, at the same time as we were striving to rebuild our village and our lives, the Israeli Civil Administration issued demolition orders to 97% of our homes, to our mosque, to our medical center and to our kindergarten.

For years, we have worked tirelessly to petition for the fair application of law. All we ask is to build our homes on our own land within our own community. Our ethos is peaceful and we are determined to be good neighbors. However, despite our ceaseless efforts to achieve this goal within the law, Israeli law appears determined to thwart us, pressuring us through demolitions to abandon our homes and our land.

I know that Israeli people cherish their homes. Therefore, I am sure that you can understand how the terrifying destruction yesterday strikes painfully at the very heart of our community, particularly our children. I need a way to reassure everyone of their future security. To this end, I respectfully request a meeting with you, here in Al Aqaba Village. I would like you to visit the families whose home your army demolished. Come see our kindergarten and look at the roads that have been destroyed. Find a way to respect our Village Council’s right to issue building permits in accordance with our Town Plan. Find a way to fix what you’ve broken.

Let’s meet as soon as possible. Please provide a date and time.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Haj Sami Sadeq
Mayor of Al Aqaba and Chair of Al Aqaba’s Village Council
Cell phone: +970 599 068 808

Here’s how to call Senior Staffers in 3 easy steps:
Surprisingly, most people do get a call back or a personal letter!

1. Find phone numbers for your congressional offices, click here

2. Take a deep breath, dial the number, and ask to speak to the senior staffer for foreign policy. Before you are transferred, ask them to repeat his/her name. Explain that seek to get a letter from a Palestinian mayor to an Israeli General and you ask their help to route it to the Israeli Embassy to assure delivery. Ask for their email so you can forward the letter. Did you get voicemail? Then just leave a short message with your phone number and call back later.

3. Forward Mayor Haj Sami’s letter via email. Afterwards, call to confirm your email arrived.

Questions? Feel free to call me on my cellphone at 1 650 440 9667

or email contact@RebuildingAlliance.org, I built the kindergarten.

One more thing:

Please click Donate Now and give generously!

We’ve got some houses to build

– and some good work ahead to make them safe.

With sincerely appreciation,

Donna Baranski-Walker
Founder and Executive Director of Rebuilding Alliance

P.S. Let’s stay in touch. Like our Facebook page, Rebuilding Alliance,

to receive the photos and updates we’ll be posting there.

Forward this message to a friend

Al Jazeera Report on Aqaba

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:48:44 +0000

Launched the village of Aqaba in the Jordan Valley north of the Palestinian West Bank, in an unprecedented challenge to the Israeli occupation, a plan to build dozens of residential units to house more than 700 people were displaced by the occupation to assert its control over the pretexts and flimsy arguments.

Has issued the occupation after the war in June 1967 most of the territory of the village, which more than 3500 dunums (a donum = 1,000 square meters), and established training camps in its territory, and to prevent their construction and demolition of existing structures, later, on the grounds that they built in areas “C”, any under the control of the occupation completely by the early nineties of the Oslo agreement of the last century.

AL Jazeera story in arabic.

Fayyad condemns the campaign of destruction against the village of Aqaba

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:37:11 +0000

Ramallah – Homes Condemned
The Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad strongly campaign by Israeli forces since the morning, where the destruction and the destruction of Al Salam Street, which links the eastern entrance to the village of Aqaba, with the northern Jordan Valley, and the destruction of street housing the displaced in the northern entrance of the village, as well as the demolition of the house of a citizen in the village.

Fayyad said the Israeli occupation forces demolished the houses, the destruction and bulldozing of streets that were resurfaced in recent years, for the second time in less than two months, in addition to having several days before the destruction of a number of water wells in Peki’in, in Nasiriyah, which was rebuilt wells that have been destroyed about two months ago, but emphasizes the insistence of the Israeli government to prevent citizens from exercising their right to life on land.

http://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2011/09/15/189911.html

They are killing peace

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:31:11 +0000

Aqaba (Jordan Valley) 09/15/2011 (WAFA) – (Jamil Illabat) when the population of the village was on the way they see the world, ‘the road to peace’, they thought that their belief in the restoration of peace easily paved pave the way. But this conviction faded away in the village of Aqaba, on the morning Today, with the first blow fell on the Israeli bulldozers destroyed by this way the Israeli army for the second time.
‘They are killing the peace .. They are destroying the dream ‘said the village council head Sami Sadeq, who went to the farthest extent of grief, he finds his dream to link the mountain village under the treads of their environment die bulldozers. The mountain village, which lies on the decline of the West Bank, East Mountains, and home to a few hundreds of farmers and herders, threatening the entire destruction of the Israeli court decision. More…

http://www.wafa.ps/arabic/index.php?action=detail&id=112959

Palestinians left homeless as Israel demolishes West Bank houses

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:01:43 +0000

22 people, including 12 children have been made homeless after the Israeli military destroyed homes in ‘Aqaba village. Israeli military bulldozers demolished three homes and water cisterns in ‘Aqaba village in the northern West Bank on Thursday morning, leaving 22 people, including 12 children, homeless. Since the beginning of the year, over 750 Palestinians in the West Bank have been displaced after their homes were demolished by the Israeli military, nearly five times more than in the same period last year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The bulldozers destroyed the homes of Khaled Sbeih, Basem Sbeih and Abdel Nasser Sbeih, leaving the three families with a few salvaged belongings on the street.

War buildings on the front of the mountains

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:07:19 +0000

Here in this mountainous region severely sloping towards the east, leading the women Mmleuen the help of architects and building war in prohibited areas, which prohibits the occupation of construction, a challenge that if successful, would mean ‘break the back’ rule applied by the occupation of the Palestinians under siege. Baranski is working to break the Israeli policy, which prohibits construction in the regions (c) by starting the construction of several houses in the village of Aqaba, located at a distance of seven kilometers east of Tubas.
And the village of Aqaba, which lies on the eastern slopes of the West Bank and the perimeter is full of a mountain takes the kernels, and one of the villages threatened with demolition in the occupied Palestinian territories. Prior to that the Israeli army demolished the houses and streets washed away, and most are funded from the Palestinian government and Western governments and international organizations. More…

Original story in Arabic.

Press Release

Donna Baranski — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:38:45 +0000

Contact: Donna Baranski-Walker
Phone: 970 56 803 8459
Email: dbw@RebuildingAlliance.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DEFYING DEMOLITION ORDERS, PALESTINIAN VILLAGE TO BUILD ‘HOMES WITH DIGNITY’
American NGO Rebuilding Alliance Opens Donation and Investment Funds

Ramallah, West Bank, Palestinian Territories – August 18, 2011 The Palestinian Village of Al Aqaba (near Tubas) and the American Non-Governmental Organization, Rebuilding Alliance, are pleased to announce a plan to help three displaced Al Aqaba families return and build new homes. Although the Israeli Army complied with the Israeli High Court and no longer uses Al Aqaba Village for live training exercises, the Israeli Army has issued demolition orders against 90% of the Jordan Valley village. To assure the village’s right to exist, Al Aqaba recently completed an Architectural Design Charrette to plan new homes and now, together with Rebuilding Alliance, invites donations and investment in the construction of the first three ‘Homes With Dignity’. Donations and investments must be recorded no later than Sepember 6^th when supporters will join Al Aqaba in Day of Constructive Engagement to receive blueprints and financing.

“There are many people in the world who value the courage, creativity, and personal commitment of Al Aqaba’s villagers,” said Ms. Souzan Jaber, a member of Rebuilding Alliance’s Board of Directors. “These ‘social investors’ do not require a large return and are willing to bear the risk of possible demolition because they believe in starting small and starting where it really makes a difference. One American has already signed-on, we ask everyone to join him.”

Al Aqaba is one of 150 Palestinian Villages at risk of demolition because the Israeli Army has stopped issuing building permits. Despite demolition orders, 130 children attend Al Aqaba’s kindergarten and 17 countries and agencies have sponsored construction projects in Al Aqaba since Rebuilding Alliance built that kindergarten. However, without the unattainable building permits, no bank will provide financing for homes. Rebuilding Alliance is creating a Revolving Mortgage Loan Fund to finance home construction in Al Aqaba and invites donors and investors at all levels. Spreading-out the financial risk of demolition will provide families with an affordable home that grows in love and value.

“New Israeli Army data now shows over 12,500 Palestinian homes, schools, and shops are slated for demolition but the world doesn’t know,” said, Ms. Donna Baranski-Walker, Founder and Executive Director of Rebuilding Alliance citing information obtained by the Israeli Human Rights Group, BIMKOM. “We ask everyone in the world to donate then call their elected officials to press for Al Aqaba’s right to issue building permits, because that’s the way democracies work.”

Al Aqaba’s families are in the process of forming a new cooperative credit program called the Al Aqaba Cooperative Assembly for Housing Displaced (ACAHD). Much like a credit union, families who have paid into the ACAHD credit account can draw mortgage loans of up to $15,000 to help them build or finish their new homes. These are affordable loans to be repaid with a small profit at $100 per month over 14 years. If the Israeli Army demolishes the homes, families do not continue to pay the mortgage; the Rebuilding Alliance Revolving Mortgage Loan Fund and its investors take the risk of demolition.

“I invite everyone to come to Al Aqaba, to invest in Al Aqaba,” said Mayor Haj Sami Sadeq, “and to help us realize a peaceful and prosperous future.”

To help build new homes in Al Aqaba, click the DonateNow button on www.RebuildingAlliance.org. Capital loans are also welcome and investors are encouraged to write to Contact@RebuildingAlliance.org or call Donna Baranski-Walker at 970 56 803 8459 to inquire about details.

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Haj Sami Sadeq, head of the Village Council, has been a tireless advocate for the village. When he was 16, he was shot by an Israeli soldier while tending his fields with his parents and was paralyzed. Despite this incident and the threats of demolition against Al Aqaba, he continues to believe in and work for peace. In 2008, Haj Sami joined Shmuel Groag to present Al Aqaba’s situation and that of the Palestinian villages in Area C to members of the U.S. Congress. Haj Sami is part of the Wounded Survivors, a group of Israelis and Palestinians who survived attack and tragedy and seek peace. He helped organize the charrette.

Al Aqaba Village is a small village that sits on the western edge of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, near Tubas. It boasts a village council led by Haj Sami Sadeq Sbaih, as well as an active Rural Women’s Association. Most of its residents depend on agriculture and animal herding for their livelihood. When Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, the army built three bases around Al Aqaba and began conducting military exercises, often within the village itself. 12 residents were killed and 38 wounded as a result of these exercises. In 2001, the village won an historic victory when the Israeli High Court ordered the Israeli army to remove one of its military bases from village land and cease using the village for training exercises. The village hoped the reduced military presence would allow the 700 exiled villagers to return. In anticipation of this, Al Aqaba asked the Rebuilding Alliance for help with building a kindergarten that could accommodate the children of both the current and returning residents. The kindergarten has been completed and now serves 130 children of parents who live both in and outside the village. Despite the court victory in 2004, Al Aqaba’s very existence was threatened when nearly the entire village was issued demolition orders by the Israeli army. The official reason given was a lack of building permits, which are unattainable. The Israeli army has twice denied Al Aqaba’s urban plan. The village is revising its plan and will soon apply again, seeking assurance of its right to issue building permits like any other town in the world.

Souzan Jaber, member of Rebuilding Alliance’s Board of Directors, was born in Ramallah, Palestine. Her expertise is in marketing and sales. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and is delighted to be living in Ramallah to engage donors and investors on behalf of Rebuilding Alliance’s Homes with Dignity program.

Rebuilding Alliance (RA) is dedicated to rebuilding war-torn communities and making them safe. Founded by Donna Baranski-Walker, an M.I.T. engineer and recipient of the Medal of Gratitude for her past support of the Polish Solidarity Movement, Rebuilding Alliance is all about village-centered rebuilding, with projects and advocacy initiatives selected with an eye towards setting precedent. RA’s life-affirming vision is a just and enduring peace in Israel and Palestine founded upon equal value, security, and opportunity for all. Rebuilding Alliance recently completed a 10 day Architectural Design Charrette in Al Aqaba, engaging architects, engineers, villagers, village council members and filmmakers in the design of their future homes. The Charrette process, along with home designs by award-winning Palestinian-Columbian Architect Hani Hassan can be viewed at www.RebuildingAlliance.org