Posted on October 1, 2020, by & filed under ICAHD reports, News, Personal Experiences.


Support Atta and tell his story



Demolition on 25 September 2020

 

In our September Actions Bulletin, we paid tribute to Atta Jaber, from the West Bank, who has known nothing but oppression and cruelty from the Israeli authorities as well as from extreme religious settlers. Atta’s resilience shines through as does his gentle determination to remain in his home and not be displaced

We were shocked and saddened to receive this news from Jeff Halper who reports on what happened on 25th September 2020.

"Remember my friend Atta Jaber, the Palestinian farmer whose home has been demolished twice (rebuilt by ICAHD along with the family), who has lost almost all his land to the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron, and whose home has been taken over by settlers and then burned? Well, just yesterday the "Civil" Administration, Israel's military government in the West Bank, confiscated and destroyed even more of his land and that of his brother and cousins.

Showing up without any notice or explanation, Civil Administration bulldozers uprooted 30 fruit trees and Atta's irrigation system in order to expand the entrance to the settlement. Although Palestinians are not privy to Civil Administration planning, it has long been suspected that Kiryat Araba wants to "jump" the highway (also built over Atta's family land) and take the entire hillside -- his home and his shrinking farmland, as well as that of his neighbors. In fact, a sign at the foot of the hill declares in Hebrew that Atta's land is the site of the future Jewish neighborhood of Mevaseret Hevron, the "approach to Hebron."

Atta is only one of millions of Palestinians facing impoverishment, collective imprisonment, repression, and death under a violent system of Israeli apartheid supported, either outright or through complicity, by YOUR government. Indeed, voices protesting Israeli oppression and calling for Palestinian rights are smeared as "anti-Semitic," having the effect of placing Palestinians beyond any legal or moral defense. Raising your voice at home, in your civic and religious settings, in the press and to your government representatives is crucial for showing that concern for Palestinian rights, for Atta and for oppressed people everywhere, is mainstream and must be listened to.”

Despite yet another violation, Atta Jaber wants to remain on his land which is rightfully his but to do so, he needs financial support. Many people know Atta, Rudina and their children because they have welcomed us to their home during ICAHD’s rebuilding camps and the study tours so let us not forget them now. Donations for the family can be made here. But we also hope that you will do as Jeff says by raising your voice. Learn more about the history of Jaber family’s struggle here which includes a four-minute film and a timeline of events.

Be equipped by reading our information about home demolitions and displacement; attend our webinars on the subject; see our sample lobby letters for writing to your MP. Engage in our campaigns and non-violent direct actions to bring attention to how Israeli authorities are violating international law.