On Thursday, May 3rd, the Al-Makhrour restaurant was demolished by IDF bulldozers, following a demolition order issued by the Israeli civil administration in 2005.

The owners of the restaurant are Michelle and Ramzi Qesieh, whose house in Beit Jala was demolished during the second Intifada. About a year ago, the family built their new house next to the restaurant, for which a demolition order has been issued as well, and could be executed at any given time.

In the past few months the restaurant has hosted groups touring the Bethlehem area with Combatants for Peace, and so became a place of peace and dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.

On Friday, May 18th, we will hold a first joint activity at the site, in order to clear the wreckage and prepare the grounds for rebuilding the restaurant.

We will gather at 8:30 at the Teddy Stadium parking lot, and should be back at around 15:00.

If you intend to join us, please sign up by filling the online form (http://bit.ly/KlI8G2)

For any question or additional information, please contact Ilan at ilan@making history.co.il

The Combatants for peace’s Jerusalem-El Kuds regional group invites you to join our upcoming activity:
Nabi Samwil
The name Nabi Samwil (or Nebi Samuel) may sound familiar – it is the location of prphet Samuel’s tomb, just north of Jerusalem. But what about the Palestinian village just next to the holy site? You probably never heard about it or visited there. Maybe because it’s a relatively small village of about 200 people, or maybe because it faces an impossible reality. A reality which this village shares with many others in the region of Jerusalem, the seam line, the west bank. You won’t find it on the map, and there is no sign.

Between reality and common sense
The village lies in what is defined as Area C, but its inhabitants are not residents of Jerusalem. They hold a Palestinian ID and are not allowed to work and enter Israel. It is located beyond the Green line (1967 borders) but within the separation barrier’s Givat Zeev enclave. This Palestinian village is separated from the rest of the west bank by the barrier, and the movement of its inhabitants outside the village is widely restricted and usually depends on the mood of the soldiers at the checkpoint outside. In this reality, although building permits are completely denied, trees are uprooted and police harassments, people live. People just like you and I, born into a harsh reality, desire just like us to live in dignity and provide for their families.
Out of our will to start joint action and raising awareness about the everyday reality in the village, as well as many like it, we have set a workday for this Saturday. We will plant plants and helbs along with the village folk, and start raising the awareness by creating a signpost informing that there is a village here, and people live in it.
We will meet at 15:30 at the commercial center in the French Hill, next to domino’s pizza, or at 16:00 at the prophet samuel’s tomb parking lot.
Please state  if you are coming with a car (and from where) and able to offer a ride, or if you need one.
For registration and further details contact Netta Hazan at  050-8246429 or netta.hazan@mail.huji.ac.il

Saturday May 19th, 9:00

The Tel Aviv-Nablus group of the Combatants for Peace movement would like to invite you to take part in an act of resistance, in which we will build a peace tent, and decorate it with the village children. The tent will host diplomats, human rights activists and guests who take interest in the village.

Khirbet al-Tawil is located between the town of Aqraba in the Nablus governorate and the Jordan valley.

Since the 1980s, the state of Israel has been systematically seizing the village’s lands. The seizure (in which authorities employed methods such as arresting shepherds and helicoptering them to jail, confiscation of farm animals and equipment, fines and house demolitions, to name a few) has pushed the residents into the westernmost part of the village, adjacent to Aqraba. Out of about 35,000 acres once belonging to the village, only a few percents are left. In recent months, the IDF and the Israeli civil administration have been issuing orders of demolition for structures in the area, (many of which are impermanent, e.g. tents and tin shacks), claiming that they were built without permits, or within areas defined as military shooting ranges.

For most of the residents this would be the third time to have their homes ruined and themselves uprooted from their lands.

This Saturday, we will come to Khirbet al-Tawil to protest against the policy of demolishing and uprooting of Palestinians residents, which is being implemented through forceful and unjust methods.

Arrival in private vehicles – we will leave at 8:00 from the Tel Aviv Arlozorov train station, next to the Shlomo-Sixt car rental terminal. Arrival back in Tel Aviv at approximately 14:00.

If you would like to participate, please sign up via the online form.

More information regarding the dangers Khirbet al-Tawil is faced with can be found in this article from Haaretz (http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/this-is-no-life-1.410809)

A story covering Israel’s policy of legalizing West-Bank lands for future settlement expansion can be found here (http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-defense-ministry-plan-earmarks-10-percent-of-west-bank-for-settlement-expansion-1.421589)

In the village 7,000 inhabitants, Nahalin is subjected under severe planning strangulation, being surrounded by the settlements: Betar Illit, Neve Daniel, and Rosh Tzurim, the planned settlement Gvaot, will completely block Nahalin in the south, In addition, the village has been suffering for years from roadblocks, house demolitions and land confiscation.

The sewage of Betar Ilit, a huge ultra-Orthodox settlement, (which doubled its size over the last decade), sometimes runs into the wadi, polluting the Nahalin spring. Nowadays the spring and the pool are dirty. Since the water is used to irrigate the fields, the Nahalin village residents are exposed to sanitary danger.

As part of the ongoing cooperation between the “Combatants for Peace” movement to the villagers, on Friday, 26/5 we will join them, now in the second time, to help cleaning and renovating the surrounding area, and an encounter with the village residents.

This is an “internal” activity of Jerusalem-Bethlechem CFP regional group.

For further details write to : office@combatantsforpeace.org

Israelis and Palestinians:

From Enemies

to Partners

a talk with Combatants for Peace

Wednesday, May 23, at 7 PM

JCC Community Hall, 7300 Hart Lane, Austin

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has taken its toll on both societies. The on-going violence, fear and mutual suspicion have caused each side to dehumanize the other and to lose hope for a possible solution. The Israeli-Palestinian grassroots movement, Combatants For Peace, seeks to challenge this current situation and offer an alternative path to end the violence.

Join us for a community gathering with Combatants for Peace. We will meet an Israeli and a Palestinian, both ex-combatants and current members of CFP. They will share their stories of past involvement in the cycle of violence and the transformation they have undergone. The evening will conclude with an open discussion.

For more information contact Roni: ronialexandra@gmail.com

Combatants for Peace was established in 2005 by Palestinians and Israelis, who have taken an active part in the cycle of violence; Israelis who served in the West Bank and Palestinians who participated in the violent struggle for their independence. After brandishing weapons for so many years, they have decided to put down their guns and work together to raise the consciousness in both publics regarding the hopes and suffering of the other side, to educate towards reconciliation and non-violence, and to fight for peace. More information at http://cfpeace.org

For further details : office@combatantsforpeace.org