Chicago Tribune Wrote:

Israel targets West Bank charity sites

Islamist outlets shut by crackdown deny backing Hamas or spreading agenda

By Joel Greenberg Chicago Tribune correspondent
July 24, 2008

HEBRON, West Bank—For more than 40 years, the Islamic Charitable Society in Hebron has provided social services to residents of this volatile West Bank city, helping orphans and needy families. Its new school for girls was to open next month, a mall it operated housed shops and offices, and it ran two bakeries and a sewing shop.But in a series of raids in recent months, the Israeli army ordered the mall vacated and emptied the charity's main warehouse. The school gates were welded shut, school buses were seized and the sewing shop was closed in a nighttime sweep in which Israeli soldiers, their faces darkened by camouflage paint, stripped the place bare.The raid was part of a crackdown against business enterprises, schools and welfare groups in the West Bank that Israeli military officials say raise money and mobilize public support for the militant Islamic movement Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel and whose charter calls for Israel's destruction.
Fighting 'civilian Hamas'The army campaign began this year in conservative Hebron, where Hamas has a strong following, and was extended this month to Nablus, where soldiers ordered the closing of a five-story mall and raided city hall, whose elected municipal council is controlled by Hamas.

The campaign against Islamist institutions in the West Bank comes as Israel's military and Hamas' armed wing are observing a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas routed the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last year.The West Bank government of Abbas shut down dozens of West Bank charities said to have links with Hamas late last year; the Israeli crackdown has had the practical effect of complementing the Palestinian Authority's campaign."The army has realized that the battle is not only against terrorism that is visible for all to see but against those who generate the funds needed to build bombs and buy guns and ammunition," said Oron Mincha, a spokesman for the army's Central Command."The campaign now is against the civilian Hamas, which provides the ideology for Palestinian youth to believe in holy war and the destruction of Israel," he said.
Groups deny claimsBut the Islamic charities and welfare groups involved vehemently deny promoting any militant agenda, insisting they are grass-roots social organizations formed to fill gaps left by inadequate government services. Some Palestinians see the Israeli crackdown as part of a grander scheme."This is part of an Israeli strategy to destroy the infrastructure of Palestinian society and make it needy, unable to help itself and subject to foreign agendas," said Samira al-Khalaika, a Hebron lawmaker affiliated with Hamas.Established in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising, Hamas has always maintained both an armed wing responsible for fighting Israel and a social welfare network that runs health clinics, orphanages, soup kitchens, kindergartens and schools. Those institutions have boosted the group's popularity and solidified its reputation for honesty and public service — in contrast with Fatah, which has been plagued with corruption.Yet not all Islamic welfare groups are linked to Hamas, and critics of the Israeli campaign say it is misdirected, targeting vital supports of Palestinian society.The mall ordered closed in Nablus is owned by a finance company accused by the Israelis of raising money for Hamas. Computers, furniture and documents have been seized from the company's offices, and on Monday, 14 members of its board were detained.The Islamic Charitable Society in Hebron, the largest in the West Bank, was founded in 1962 under Jordanian rule, and before most of Hebron was transferred to the control of the Palestinian Authority it was licensed by the Israeli military government .Now the Israelis designate the society — which runs orphanages and schools in the Hebron area — a banned organization because of its alleged links to Hamas.
Teaching 'hatred'At the Al-Huda mall in downtown Hebron, which was ordered vacated by April 1, most of the premises are empty. A dress shop, cosmetics store and computer outlet are shuttered. The office of a physical therapist and a lawyer are vacant, with signs directing clients to other locations. The society's hangarlike warehouse, which contained clothing, shoes and school supplies for needy students and their families, is also bare. Rasheed Rasheed, a teacher who works for the group, said soldiers worked a full day to load several trucks with goods, also hauling off industrial refrigerators used to store meat for the orphanages and the poor.At the Al-Rahma bakery, where soldiers seized equipment, walls were broken and a large oven was heavily damaged. Rasheed said the soldiers set fire to the oven when they couldn't carry it off.Mincha, the army spokesman, denied that any property had been vandalized, suggesting that the damage had been staged, but he confirmed the confiscation of goods and closure of the school and building complexes owned by the society.Rasheed emphatically denied that the Hebron charitable society had any links to Hamas, noting that it was established well before the militant group even existed. He said the schools follow the curriculum of the Palestinian Authority."The only curriculum of incitement and hatred is the Israeli checkpoints, the beating and killing of Palestinians," Rasheed said. "That is what teaches Palestinian children hatred. We don't have to."

To read original report, click here

jogreenberg@tribune.com

Despite fear, concern and disruption: 11 students of the 12th grade got more than 90% at Tawjihi Exam

First on boys in Hebron District /Scientific Stream :

98.4%

First on girls in Hebron District/Literary Stream:

97.1%

They never let us down. Despite all bad days we went through, our boys and girls accepted the challenge and proved to everybody that they chose the way to success. Those same students who were accused of being a victim of incitement, being taught hatred and being fed with '' Jihad principles '', got the highest marks in the General Certificate Exam (Tawjihi) of the 12th grade , today.

Seven girls got high marks in this test: 97.1% , 94.5% , 92.8% , 92.4% , 91.2% , 92.1% , 90.8%. Four boys got: 98.4% , 97.6% , 94.7% , 90.3%.

Congratulations to everybody! Wishing them the best in their study.

The Solidarity Football Championship in Support of the Islamic Charitable Society

In support of the orphans of the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS), the YMCA, DCI (Defence for Children International), CPT(Christian Peacemaker Teams), AIC(Alternative Information Centre) have organized a solidarity football championship.

Good games with wonderful players

The Japanese Team and EAPPI

Teams ready to play

YMCA Team , distinguished team in everything

CPT Team

EAPPI Team and the best player of the championship Jean-Marie (first row, third from right)

The winner, MYA (Muslim Youths' Association)

A participation gift for the Japanese Team

Sara Venturini, the organizer, and a special gift

Al- Qattan Foundation Supports '' Sanabel Theatre '' Performances

The Sanabel Theatre from Jerusalem has performed two plays for the orphans early this morning. The children were very happy singing, dancing and clapping during the shows. It was such a wonderful change for orphans after all that they have gone through. The shows were fully supported by Abdel Muhsen Al-Qattan Foundation in Ramallah.

When Good People Speak: Paul Rehm of CPT Wrote an Article in Timesunion from US

Speak out to protect the children

By PAUL REHM

First published: Saturday, June 28, 2008

They come in the middle of the night, some with blackened faces. They prefer the darkness, these men and women who take food and clothing meant for orphans and needy families.
Shortly after midnight on April 30, these Israeli soldiers drove through the streets of Hebron to raid the sewing workshop in a Palestinian girls' orphanage. Taken by surprise when my Christian Peacemaker teammates found them there, they would not answer Art's challenge, "Is this the way you fight terror -- stealing clothing and sewing machines from a girls' orphanage?"
"Look at yourselves. Now tell me who the terrorists are." Could Art's words have been ringing in their ears as they discarded their loot at the municipal dump?
On Feb. 26, the Israeli army had ordered the Islamic Charitable Society to close the orphanages and schools it oversees in Hebron, along with the central warehouse and bakeries that serve those facilities. The army claimed there was a connection to Hamas. The ICS staff told us some employees are members of the political party Hamas and others belong to Fatah, but that neither party controls the charitable organization.
"If the army has evidence proving any ICS employees are involved in illegal activities," they added, "arrest those individuals and bring them to trial. Don't make the orphans and students suffer."
Those pleas fell on deaf ears. In March, the army raided the ICS central warehouse and took away school buses, clothing and food.
We walked through that ransacked warehouse -- shelves stripped, doors smashed, broken glass on the floor -- one more instance of the violence faced by people who ask our group to work with them as they attempt to resolve conflicts nonviolently. Christian Peacemaker Teams' commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking evolves from the life and teachings of Jesus. Besides Hebron, we also have teams in the nearby village of At-Tuwani and in Colombia and Iraq.
The army gave the Islamic Charitable Society until April 1 to vacate its buildings. In support of the children, and in keeping with Christian Peacemaker Teams' practice of getting in the way between oppressors and the oppressed, we slept on mats in the boys' and girls' orphanages for several nights at the end of March and start of April. The soldiers did not come.
A few weeks later, they did return in the night -- not to the orphanages but to one of the bakeries. They set fire to the commercial oven, smashed walls and ventilation pipes and drove away into the darkness.
While the army has been making its late night rounds, people in the West Bank and Jerusalem -- men and women, including Christians, Jews and Muslims -- concerned with human rights and the welfare of children have been raising their voices in the light of day. European Union Vice President Luisa Morgantini called the decision to close the ICS schools an "arbitrary and illegal action perpetrated by the Israeli military against the civil population."
Former President Jimmy Carter called for "people of good will to join me on behalf of the orphans and students ... so that 240 children will not lose the place they've come to know as home and 1,700 students will not be thrown out of school."
Rabbi Arik Ascherman of the Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights, forbidden by Israeli law from entering the area of Hebron where a news conference was held, phoned in his message of support. The Israeli journalist, Gideon Levy, was one of the first to speak out: "How pathetic is an occupation army that empties out warehouses of food and clothing earmarked for orphans."
In times like these, when Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire joins the struggle by sleeping in at the girls' orphanage, you and I can also speak out for the children of Hebron. We may not be presidents, vice presidents, rabbis, journalists or Nobel laureates, but our individual voices are critical. We can make ourselves heard. We can contact the Israeli embassy in Washington and ask that the closure orders be rescinded and the ICS compensated for its property. We can phone our representatives in Washington and ask them to bring America's influence to bear on behalf of the orphans and students in Hebron.
Or we can do nothing. The children will never know.
Paul Rehm, who lives in South Westerlo and retired as director of purchasing for Stiefel Laboratories, is a reservist with Christian Peacemaker Teams. He can be contacted by e-mail at kprehm@aol.com.

to read the article in timesunion , click HERE

Why Are We Working With Orphans?

" He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing." Deut 10:18

" And they ask you concerning orphans. Say: "The best thing is to work honestly in their property, and if you mix your affairs with theirs, then they are your brothers. And Allah knows him who means mischief (e.g. to swallow their property) from him who means good (e.g. to save their property)." Baqara – 220

Christians and Muslims speak from the same tradition of loving peace and justice, and of caring for the weak and in need, especially for the children in our midst. Hand in hand, we are co-partners in serving people in need. Muslim and Christian charities offer vital services to local communities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Without the work of our religious charities, the care and enormous resources we provide to suffering people would fall upon the shoulders of local governments which are unable to meet these needs.

The work of these charities is irreplacably in this society.

Islamic Charitable Society in Hebron

Briefing 27 June 2008

On 26 February, the Israeli Military issued 6 military orders declaring the confiscation and closures of facilities belonging to the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) in Hebron.

Targeted facilities:
Two bakeries
One apartment building
One administrative building
A new shopping mall
A warehouse
Three schools
Two orphanages
Schools, kindergartens and other facilities in surrounding villages(Beit Ula & Shyukh)

As of 27 June Israeli Military has confiscated/shut:
The warehouse with over $300,000 worth of school supplies, clothing, and food
Two new school buses
The apartment building with thirty units
Two bakeries supplying 5,000 families with bread
Welded shut the gates of a school for 1200 students, scheduled to open on Sept. 2008 (Worth $2,000,000)
A sewing center where girls learned a craft and earned pocket money. (The sewing machines and bolts of cloth used by the students were thrown on the city dump as the soldiers left the city)
Schools, kindergartens and other facilities in surrounding villages(Beit Ula & Shyukh)
For further details, see the attached list of total costs to the Charities.

The Israeli measures in Hebron constitute a series of violations of International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law and International Law:
· The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, articles 6 and 7
· The Fourth Geneva Convention, article 39 of the;
· The Convention on the Rights of the Child, article. 38
· Article 50 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (which stipulates the duty of the Occupying Power to facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children)
· The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 26 (right to education of children), article 9 (guarantees protection against arbitrary arrest and detention)
· The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 9
· The Oslo Agreement
· The Hebron Agreement

New development:
These military orders also represents a new and worrying development as they refer to confiscation and transfer of ownership of private property in the H1 Area of Hebron (under Palestinian control) to the Israeli Army. The PA Minister of Social Affairs, Dr. Mahmud Al-Habbash, who visited ICS Hebron Wednesday, June 11, confirmed that "This is against all the agreements between the PA and them [the Israelis.]. It is a violation of all Human Rights Agreements. We have informed all internationals about these illegal actions''.

Affected beneficiaries:
A particularly vulnerable segment of the population, namely children from mostly impoverished families, is being deprived of specialized services that provide much needed support and fundamental coping mechanisms.

As of today:
The Israeli Army has yet to implement the remaining provisions of the orders, i.e. the eviction of the ICS and the orphans from the property and the transfer of ownership of the property.

Fear:
While the world is watching the orphanages and schools, the Israeli Military is stripping the Charities of millions of dollars in assets, jeopardizing decades of work and investment by ICS to assure the support of the orphanages and other charitable services provided to the increasingly impoverished city of Hebron.

Charges against the Charities:
The Israeli Army claims that the Charities are a front or fund raiser for Hamas, and that some of the staff or board members are implicated in Hamas activities in one way or another. Yet, no proof has been presented to the Charities, the press or NGOs involved in protecting the orphans.
Charity accounts have always been open and are submitted to the PA as they were to the Jordanian Government before 1967. All sources and expenditures are fully documented and no one has raised any questions about the accounts.The only criteria for selection of orphans is that they are in need, there is no political agenda. The Israeli Military makes the generic charge that the Charity assists prisoner's families, and although the PA, most major UN groups and NGOs do provide such assistance, this Charity does not.

International support:
Due primarily to the efforts of the Christian Peacemakers in Hebron a wide variety of supporters, including Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Maguire and Jimmy Carter, the Desmond Tutu Foundation, the UN Commission on Human Rights, Rabbis for Human Rights, and the YMCA's, have rallied to help, and internationals have been sleeping in the Orphanages to comfort the frightened children and to deter invasion when the risk seems high.

Mairead Maguire, Irish Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, recently visited the Orphanages of Hebron while on a visit to the Occupied Territories to support non violent resistance there. She said she was shocked and disheartened by the havoc and ruin being created by the Israeli Army in the lives of the poorest and weakest of Palestinian society, the orphans and the children of the poor. The orphanages, she said, are at the heart of programs run by the Islamic Charitable Institutions (ISC) in Hebron, who have served the needy of that city since 1962."

We ask that:
The Israeli Government be held accountable by the International Community for its abuse of the rights of the children to protection and education. As an occupying power Israel has legal obligations (under the Geneva Convention) to protect the population in the occupied territories, especially women and children.

Palestinian Authority and the Charities:
We are grateful for the steps taken by the United Nations (UNSCO) , and the information given it by the assistant to the PA Prime Minister, stating that “the PA has not received any information that benefits have stopped reaching beneficiaries and that they should let him know if they heard otherwise." We appreciate their support. We are now pointing out that, as our summary of the impact of Israeli confiscations to date has made clear, the infrastructure and fund raising mechanism that supports these children and their services has been badly and possibly permanently damaged. Services to the orphans and other needy groups, and staff salaries, have already been cut.

The PA Minister of the Interior has appointed nine board members who are not affiliated with any party. The board, however, refuses to take responsibility until it receives guarantees from the PA and the Israeli Authorities that they and the board will not be targeted, and that the Army will stop any further actions against the Charities. As a result of this lack of a functioning board, the Charities can no longer access their own bank accounts or reach their own funds.

WHAT IS THE UK GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY DOING AS ISRAELI MILITARY TARGETS AND DESTROYS MUSLIM CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS IN HEBRON?

On 5th June, 2008 whilst attending Conference in Bil’in on Nonviolence, I Was invited by friends, who are members of Christian Peacemakers’ team based in Hebron, to go with them to see what is happening in Hebron.

On arrival in Hebron we met with the Administrator of the Hebron Orphanages. He explained that the Israeli army is threatening to close 14 schools and orphanages in the Hebron district. Eight of these schools and orphanages belong to the Islamic Charitable Society, while the remaining six belong to the Muslim Youth Society.(On 26th February the Israeli army forces handed over military orders of closures and confiscations of two bakeries, administrative buildings, a warehouse, three schools and two orphanages. All of these owned by the ICS.)

He took us to see a newly built school owned by ICS , (cost of two million) which was due to be opened in August, but is now closed. The Israeli Military has welded the gates of the school closed and the reason given, as for all these closures are, ‘security’. Beside the school we visited a large warehouse and met the caretaker. He explained that in March the Israeli Military arrived at 3 a.m., and left at 9 a.m., they tied him up and proceeded to pack and removed all the food and clothing in the Warehouse and destroy the interior of the buildings, smashing everything in sight. The contents of the warehouse were for the orphans and the poor and the premises run by Islamic Charitable Society. We then visited a burn’t out bakery (there was another destroyed Bakery but time did not permit a visit). Again the Israeli military destroyed the entire interior, burning completely the huge baking oven. This bakery cooked over 3,000 loaves of bread, and were subsidized by charity, to feed the orphans and poor. The jobs created by these Islamic Charitable projects, are gone and in the short time not able to be replaced. We also visited a Boys’ and Girls’ Orphanage both under military orders of closure. The ICS will challenge these closures in court, but in the meantime the Israeli military are systematically during the night, raiding and destroying the buildings. The fear now is that the Orphanages and school will be raided and destroyed. In an attempt to stop this Islamic Charitable Society have invited people, including Internationals to sleep overnight in these buildings in the hope that the presence of Internationals might deter the Israeli military nightly raids of destruction. I join 4 friends in sleeping overnight in the Girls’ Orphanage, and we were alone in this building, as the children have gone to friends for the Summer school period. Luckily the Army did not arrive, but what Will happen when there are no internationals to sleep over? And the world sleeps
While this destruction takes place. Before our sleep-over we met local Muslims and were hosted to a beautiful meal and great kindness and gratitude for our presence.

The outside world, for the most part, is unaware of this Israeli Government’s Policy of demonization, wilful destruction, of the Muslim Institutions, one by one, in an Attempt to destroy the spirit and resilience of the Muslim Communities, not only in Hebron but throughout the illegally occupied Palestinian terrorities. It was for me horrific to witness, the Israeli Government, (and the USA/UK Governments’ War on terrorism), come to be played out on the streets of Hebron, against Orphan children. (If the schools and orphanages continue to be closed down, and the military continue to destroy completely these institutions, then 7000 children will be without school and 4,500 children will be without homes). The excuse given is that these Islamic Institutions are a front for ‘hamas’ but the Islamic Charitable Society was established In l962, and all their financial dealings and accounting are completely open. The money for the school and orphanages comes from local investments (they have their own businesses) from donors abroad and from Arab and Western countries (Prince Charles, through a UK Trust has donated towards these orphanages).

I was shocked and horrified to see the destruction of these Islamic Institutions. The threats of the Israeli Army (and Government) against Orphans must be loudly Resisted by all of us concerned for a violent free and peaceful world for Muslim Children, indeed all our children. This behaviour is immoral, unethical and illegal And the Israeli Government should be held accountable, by the International Community, for its abuse of the rights of the children to safety and education. As occupiers of this country they have legal obligations to protect the occupied, especially women and children.

The United Kingdom has many questions to answer here too. Tony Blair is based In East Jerusalem, (a few hours from Hebron, so he is well aware of this systematic Wilful destruction of Islamic charitable institutions) and his brief is to help Palestinian economic reconstruction. How ironic whilst he is suppose to be helping businesses etc., the Israeli military are in the dead of night, spreading terror and destruction of the Islamic communities. What is Mr. Blair and the UK governments doing about this?

One of the things that struck me during my visit to the illegally occupied terrorities Was the courage, friendliness and resilience of the Palestinian people. But I was Also conscious of the fact that so many of them are traumatized by what is happening, and in bewilderment that the outside world, is silent and inactive in face of their Tremendous suffering, and blatant dispossession and persecution. The World must act against this ongoing destruction by Israel of the Palestinian people and their institutions, and by Israeli racist and apartheid policies, in the villages and cities of occupied Palestine, including the siege of Gaza.

All Occupations come to an end, as this one surely will, but if this occupation continues, it will begin to destroy the very soul of the Jewish people, and leave a legacy of anger and resentment within some the Arab people, especially the young, which will take generations to heal.

It behoves the Israeli (and International community) to awaken now to the urgency of Justice for the Palestinians, by ending the Siege of Gaza, the Occupation of Palestine, And moving to build justice and reconciliation, whilst there is still time to turn this around, and before more blood of Israeli/Palestinians brothers and sisters is shed.


Mairead Maguire (Nobel Peace Laureate)
Hebron, in the Palestinian occupied terrorities.
5th June, 2008.
www.peacepeople.com

COSTS TO DATE OF ISRAELI ARMY ACTIONS AGAINST THE CHARITIES

Statement from the ICS accountant


· Al Huda School and furnishings, padlocked and inaccessible, $2 million
· Warehouse, $500,000 for the building and $300,000 for the confiscated materials
· Bakeries: $48,000 for buildings and $56,000 for the equipment
· Al Huda Mall and Al Qasimi Apartment Building, $140,000 lost in annual rent
· Ten families out of 30 have left the Al Qasimi Building and another 4 are planning to leave. All but three tenants in the Al Huda Mall have left; 11 shops of 13, 10 offices of 12.
· Workers of the sewing workshop, warehouses, and bakeries (42) are at home, unpaid.
· Daily pocket money for orphans reduced from 3 to 1 NIS a day
· Three projects canceled, each for 1070 families.
· Cost of rental buses to finish out the school year, to replace those taken, NIS 18,000
· From the time the second bakery was closed, NIS 12,960 to provide bread for the orphans and school children.
· Staff have not been paid for 45 days. They took only 40% of their salaries the last month they were paid.

The Palestinian Minister of Social Affairs Visits the Orphanages

The Palestinian Minister of Social Affairs, Dr. Mahmud Al-Habbash, visited Wednesday, June 11, the threatened orphanages in Hebron. Al-Habbash met with ICS seniors and had a briefing on the work of the Charity. He also visited the Hebron Boys' Orphanage and paid tribute to the high services and well organized facilities.
Dr. Al-Habbash said that the Palestinian President, Mr. Mahmud Abbas is highly interested in this problem. ''He keeps asking Mr. Fayyad about the Charities in Hebron,"said Dr. Al-Habbash.

The Minister said that the Palestinian Cabinet has formed a special committee to follow up with the Israeli measures against Islamic Charities.'' The Cabinet decided that the Minsters of Justice, Civil affairs and Social Affairs will be part of this committee,''added the minister.

''We don't work for Israel. This is against all the agreements between the PA and them. It is a violation of all Human Rights Agreements. We have informed all internationals about these illegal actions,'' Dr. Al-Habbash continues.
''The Islamic Charitable society is one of the biggest charities in Palestine. We have always supported it and we will never stop. If we had found something wrong in its work, we would have closed it years ago. The Israelis have no right to do that. The islamic charity needs to be thanked for the work it has been doing and we will encourage and support ,by all means, the work of this charity.''

Internationals Visiting the charity

Mairead Corrigan Maguire - Nobel Peace Laureate, 1976 - visits raided facilities of ICS and stays at the orphanage over night

Mairead Maguire, Irish Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, recently visited the Orphanages of Hebron while on a visit to the Occupied Territories to support non violent resistance there. Despite her experience with many suffering peoples, she said that she was shocked and disheartened by the havoc and ruin being created by the Israeli Army in the lives of the poorest and weakest of Palestinian society, the orphans and the poor. The orphanages are at the heart of programs run by the Islamic Charitable Institutions in Hebron, who have served the needy of that city since 1962.

Holding the Holy Quran
Inside the raided warehouse

“I was shocked and horrified to see the destruction of these Islamic Institutions. The threats of the Israeli Army and Government against Orphans must be loudly resisted by all of us concerned for a violence free and peaceful world for Muslim Children, indeed for all our children. This behavior is immoral, unethical and illegal. The Israeli Government should be held accountable by the International Community for its abuse of the rights of the children to safety and education. As occupiers of this country they have legal obligations to protect the occupied, especially women and children. “

Inside the wrecked bakery

'' The outside world, for the most part, “Maguire continues, ” is unaware of this Israeli Government’s Policy of demonization and willful destruction of the Muslim Institutions, one by one, in an attempt to destroy the spirit and resilience of the Muslim communities, not only in Hebron but throughout the illegally occupied Palestinian territories. It was for me horrific to witness how the Israeli Government’s, (and the USA/UK Governments’) War on Terrorism comes to be played out on the streets of Hebron against Orphan children. If the schools and orphanages continue to be closed down, and the military continue to destroy completely these institutions, then 7000 children will be without school and 4,500 children will be without homes.''

Having dinner at the Girls' Orphanage

In the kitchen at the Boys' Orphanage

“ The excuse given by the Army” Maguire adds, “ is that these Islamic Institutions are a front for ‘Hamas’ but the Islamic Charitable Society was established in l962, and all their financial dealings and accounting are completely open [and have been so since the founding]. “The money for the school and orphanages comes from local investments (they have their own businesses), from donors abroad and from Arab and Western countries (Prince Charles, through a UK Trust has donated towards these orphanages).”

A coffee break at the Boys' Orphanage

Looking at the wrecked oven

Inside a classroom

At the Girls' Orphanage with CPT and Internationals

“The United Kingdom has many questions to answer here too.” Maguire charges. “Tony Blair is based in East Jerusalem, (a few hours from Hebron), so he is well aware of this systematic and willful destruction of Islamic charitable institutions and his brief is to help
Palestinian economic reconstruction. How ironic whilst he is suppose to be helping businesses etc., the Israeli military are in the dead of night, spreading terror and destruction of the Islamic communities. What are Mr. Blair and the UK governments
doing about this?”

More Internationals Visit the Orphanages

At the Girls' Orphanage

Inside the raided sewing workshop

New Military Raids - ICS branches in Beit Ula & Shyukh near Hebron

Very early this morning , Thursday, the Israeli military raided two charities , branches of the Islamic Charitable Society, in Shyukh and Beit Ula villages near hebron.

The military confiscated and closed a building in Shyukh that has a school, a kitchen, a kindergarten and administrative offices. They took almost everything. The estimated confiscated material reaches more than 60,000 NIS.
It is not clear yet if the Army has orders to close the school and the kindergarten although the outside door,that was welded shut, leads to them.

The ICS - Shyukh Branch employs 30 employees that take care of a 170- student school (for boys and girls) and a 250-child kindergarten.

Whereas, the Beit Ula branch employs 67 employees that run 2 schools and 4 kindergartens. The boys' school has 190 students while the girls' school has 230 girls. The 4 kindergartens has the total of 409 boys and girls.

The Military confiscated orphans' files, examinations' papers and even students' birth certificates from the school. After finishing the raid, they welded shut the gates of the school and plastered a military order of closure for three years.

Statement of Support - United Methodist Church

STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR MUSLIM ORPHANAGES IN HEBRON

WHEREAS on 26 February 2008, Israeli military forces entered buildings owned by the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) in Hebron, ordering closure and confiscation of two bakeries, administrative and commercial buildings, a warehouse, three schools and two orphanages; and

WHEREAS on 6 March 2008, the Israeli military raided the central warehouse and a bakery, confiscating refrigerators, vehicles and other supplies intended to fill the needs of children (estimated value of the seized goods $400,000), and

WHEREAS the orphanages and schools serve 6000 needy children and house hundreds of orphans who would be left homeless and hungry if the Israeli military carries out the closure; and

WHEREAS the Israeli High Court ruled that the Israeli military failed to provide justification for closing the institutions, and whereas, the Israeli military carried out further confiscations and closure orders even after the Israeli court ruling, still threatening the orphanages; and

WHEREAS human rights organizations, Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy, and diplomatic officials have rallied to support the orphans, and

WHEREAS Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) including Dianne Roe (whose work with CPT is a NCNY conference advance special) stayed overnight at the girls' orphanage, toured the threatened institutions and worked with a broad coalition of Israelis, Palestinians and internationals to counter the impending closure of the orphanages

The North Central NY conference of the United Methodist Church does RESOLVE to

1) Express its outcry at the Israeli invasion, destruction and theft of the properties of the
Islamic Charitable Society in Hebron.

2).Ask congressional representatives to urge the State Department to pressure the
Israeli Military Commander to rescind the order to close the orphanage .

3) Publicize our resolution (and the orphanage situation in Hebron) in local media
outlets.

4) Call on churches to include the Hebron Orphanages in prayer concern time Sundays
in June 2008, and in future Sundays as the situation develops.

5) Encourage establishing relationships between youth groups in NCNY conference and
the schools and orphanages threatened with closure.

Sponsored by the NCNY Conference Task Force on
Peace with Justice in Palestine/Israel

To read the original document, please, click here

Internationals Start Sleeping at Orphanages and Schools

Hatred and Incitement in the Palestinian Curriculum !!!

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, PA Legislative Council member for the Jerusalem District told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview on Dec. 16, 2004:

"There are some who say that the Palestinians incite and are anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic, which isn't true. There's not a single anti-Semitic word in the textbooks. But anyway, there are fads of accusations. These take on a life of their own when they keep being repeated.

"At one point, about two years ago, there was a wave of all these articles that show that Christians in Palestine were badly treated. I haven't read any recent ones at all, but I think this was a way of maligning the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority even though I know for a fact that it is the opposite.

"The violence is not manufactured by the Palestinians. The occupation is violent. Palestinian children don't have to learn about violence from textbooks or TV. All they have to do is watch the news. All they have to do is live in an area that is bombed or shelled or where their parents are arrested or beaten up.

"Studies show that more than 80% of Palestinian children are in constant trauma. Most Palestinian children have had relatives killed and have themselves been subjected to violence. So, the reality they live in is inherently abnormal, and therefore, to say that they are being bombarded with [messages of incitement and violence], no, it seems to me that it is the occupation at fault.

"Furthermore, they are robbed of their traditional source of security and comfort, their families, since their parents themselves are vulnerable and cannot protect their children. There are all sorts of problems that these poor children have to contend with. I've always called for less violence on all television because reality is violent enough."

To see more pictures:

Schooling under occupation in Hebron

Children Under Occupation

Read about Palestinian Textbooks:

Palestinian curriculum

Read about Israeli Textbooks and Incitement:

The attitude towards Palestinians in Israeli textbooks

Military School by Gideon Levy

Racism and Hatred in Israeli Textbooks

Basic Ignorance

Child Recruitment In Israel

Hebron Orphanages and Schools on BBC

In the evening of May 27, and in one of its main news programmes, BBC covered the story of the orphanages and schools of the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) in Hebron. A result of long and good planning by the producer Daniel Clarke and Middle East Correspondent Tim Franks of BBC Jerusalem.

In order to listen to the report, please click here.

Tim Franks

BBC Middle East Correspondent

PRESS RELEASE

Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron
For Immediate Release, 29 May 2008
CPT Contacts: office 011-972-(0)2 222 8485
Email:cptheb@palnet.com,
For more information visit http://www.hebronorphans.blogspot.com

Act Now! Stop the Closing of Orphanages and Schools in Hebron by the Israeli Military

Breaking News:
In his meeting on May 21st with members of the Steering Committee for Supporting the Orphans, Mr. Jawad Bulos, lawyer for the Islamic Charitable Society(ICS), gave a briefing on the legal side of closing and confiscating the ICS facilities."The very first moment the Charity received the closure orders I appealed to the Military Legal Advisor and asked him to arrange a meeting with me. The advisor refused to meet me and later he rejected our appeal. I was forced, then, to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court," said Bulos.'' Five days after my appeal to the court, the court unexpectedly refused to issue a stop order (prohibition order). I was informed later that the court will not discuss our appeal before October,'' added Mr. Bulos. Although it appears that the military is working towards closure on the ground Bulos does not think that the military will take further actions that might embarrass the court. Yet, '' I can not trust the Israeli Military,'' he said. These events leave the future of the orphanages and schools in a confused state.
Bulos further stated, “We discussed all details and ways of getting out of this tunnel. The military officers seemed not interested”. He concluded his briefing by saying that he believes that the work of both local and international groups is equally important.

Act Now!

It is therefore of utmost importance that all NGOs and internationals who have been involved in this campaign continue to pressure their governments to insist that Israel not only stop this action but also pay restitution for the losses suffered by the institutions involved. Please contact your Congress Representatives or Members of Parliament as soon as possible.

The Steering Committee also encourages all NGOs or visitor to the West Bank to spend a night or more in the Orphanages to discourage the Israeli Army from further actions.

Contact CPT Hebron for these arrangements: cptheb@palnet.com (subject line should contain Hebron Orphanage)


You can find the Israeli embassy in your country at http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sit...

CANADA:
Embassy in Tel Aviv:
The Canadian Embassy, PO Box 9442,
Tel Aviv67060, Israel.
Fax: (011 972 3) 636-3380. Email: taviv@dfait-maeci.gc.ca

Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
Office of the Prime Minister,
80 Wellington Street Canada,
K1A 0A2. Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada,
Maxime Bernier,
House of Commons Ottawa ON, K1A 0A6.
Fax: (613) 995-0687
Email: BerniM@parl.gc.ca

You can mail your MP at the House of Commons address, or find their email address at http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/PostalCode.asp?Source=SM

UNITED KINGDOMEmbassy in Tel Aviv:
British Embassy,
192 Hayarkon StreetTel Aviv 63405,
Israel. Tel:(+972 3) 725 1222;
Fax: (+ 972 3) 527 8574.
Email: webmaster.telaviv@ fco.gov.uk

Prime Minister Gordon Brown,
10 Downing Street,
London SW1A 2AA
To email the Prime Minister go to
http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/page821.asp

Foreign Secretary David Miliband,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
King Charles Street,
London SW1A 2AH.
Tel: 020 7008-1500

To email MP, MEP's, MSPs, or Northern Ireland, Welsh and London AMs,
go to http://www.writetothem.com/

Contact details for UK Members of Parliament and House of Lords:http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm

Contact details for the Members of the Scottish Parliaments:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/membersPages/index.htm

SWEDEN:
Contact PM Fredrik ReinfeldtPhone:46 8 405-1000,
email via senior registry clerk:www.sweden.gov.se

Contact Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt,
Phone: 46-8-405-1000 ,
email via senior registry clerk: www.sweden.gov.se

USA:
Embassy in Tel Aviv:
US Embassy71 Hayarkon Street,
Tel Aviv 63903,Israel.
Email: Mary Glantz, Human Rights, glantzme@state.Gov;
Michelle Schohn, schohnjm@state.gov,
or ac5@bezeqint.net

President George W Bush,
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20500

Register your message with the White House Comment Line:202-456-1111
e-mail:comments@whitehouse.gov.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
2201 C Street NW, Washington,
DC 20520

To contact your Senator go to
http://www.senate.gov/general/ contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

To contact your Representative go to
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Or call the Capitol Switchboard at(202)-224-3132
and ask for the appropriate Congressional office.

Please write to the Israeli military and urge them to return the confiscated properties. Send appeals electronically to:http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/Contact+Us/

Volunteers Urgently Needed To Stay At Orphanages And Schools

We are inviting all concerned to visit the Orphanages, to spend a night there, or more, with the children, to eat with them, to tour the city, where poverty and closures are destroying a once thriving economy. “The once prosperous West Bank city of Hebron is now facing a more than 70% increase in poverty due to the continuing Israeli closures, a study by the Palestinian centre for Communication and Development Studies has shown.” (Maannews). This is the only means of saving these resources and the only homes that these children have.

Steering Committee for the Orphans of Hebron
http://www.hebronorphans.blogspot.com
All arrangements should be made through Christian Peacemaker Teams(CPT)
CPT Contacts:
office: 02 222 8485
Email: cptheb@palnet.com
http://www.cpt.org

Facts Speak Louder than Lies

On Tuesday, 26 February, the Israeli military entered buildings of the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) in Hebron, handing over 6 military orders for confiscations and closure of the various facilities of the society. The orders included: two bakeries, an apartment building and administrative buildings, a new shopping mall, a warehouse, three schools and two orphanages.

The army had already confiscated a warehouse with over $300,000 worth of school supplies, clothing, and food, as well as two new school buses and a van. The Israeli Army also seized an apartment building with thirty units and removed two bakeries supplying 5,000 families with bread and all the equipment removed. They welded shut the gates of a $2,000,000 school for 1200 students, scheduled to open on September 2008 and confiscated and closed a sewing center where the girls learned a craft and earned small sums of money.

In each of these incursions, the army seized all that was movable, ripped equipment out of the walls, took bread, flour, pots, pans, computers, and, in short, emptied these buildings of all usable and useful contents. They threw the cloth and machines from the sewing center on the town dump as they left the city.

The Islamic Charitable Society has been serving the needs of the poor of Hebron since 1962, providing support to 7000 needy people and orphans, educating 1700 students and sheltering 240 orphans in orphanages.

The recent military orders constitute a new and particularly worrying development, since they refer to confiscation and transfer of ownership of private property in the H1 Area of Hebron (under Palestinian control) to the IDF. The orders deprive the beneficiaries, a particularly vulnerable population, of specialized services that provide much needed support and fundamental coping mechanisms. The IDF has allegedly so far confiscated all the contents of four establishments but is yet to implement the remaining provisions of the orders, i.e., eviction from the property and transfer of ownership of the property. Given the vulnerability of the affected persons, most of whom are children, the humanitarian and human rights implications are severe.

The Israeli measures in Hebron constitute a series of violations to articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; article 39 of the Fourth Geneva Convention; article. 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; article 50 (GCIV), which stipulates the duty of the Occupying Power to facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children; article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which relates to right to education of children; and article 9 of UDHR, which guarantees protection against arbitrary arrest and detention. An identical protection is guaranteed by Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, the measures are a violation of the Oslo Agreement and the Hebron Agreement that were signed by Israel in 1995 and 1997, respectively.

The military orders charge is that the Charities are a front or fund raiser for Hamas, or possibly that some of the ICS staff or board are implicated in some way. However, as yet no proof has been offered to the Charities, the press or the many NGOs involved in protecting the orphans.

The Israeli military goes further in its accusations claiming that the ICS schools teach incitement and hatred, promote Hamas’ goals and recruit terrorists. The accusations are totally baseless. The curriculum taught at the schools is the same as the Palestinian Authority’s (which the army describes as moderate). The Charity, especially the schools, is willing to undergo any investigations by a credible and neutral organization to prove the truth about the accusations.

The ICS supports orphans on the basis of their being orphans only. It does not differentiate between orphans whose fathers were collaborators or those whose fathers were killed by Israelis or died in accidents or from illness . It is not an ICS policy to refuse care for any needy orphan for whatever reason. The Israeli classifications of orphans according to the fate of their parensts is in fact strangeare . Instead of spending time on such classifications, they should instead stop being a major cause of increasing numbers of orphans.

The ICS does not provide any support, of any kind, to families of prisoners. Although supporting the families of prisoners is a national responsibility, it is not, again, an ICS policy to do so. The only support that the ICS does in this regard is continuing to pay salaries to its employees when they face administrative detention. This is not a new trend in the occupied territories. The PA, UNRWA and NGOs do the same. Once more, the Israelis should stop their inequitable collective punishment and irrational policy towards the Palestinians, rather than labeling those who try to alleviate the hardships of affected people, as terrorists.

Dozens of international supporters have spent days and nights at the schools and orphanages and reported seeing only normal, happy children, living and learning in a caring and concerned environment totally devoid of terrorism. The ICS has received endorsement of support from former President Jimmy Carter, the European Parliament, World Vision, Defense for Children International, YMCA, and International Women’s Peace Service.

The Israeli military’s actions have been totally inhumane in confiscating the buses, food, and clothes destined for the orphanages, schools and needy families. It would seem illogical to equate school buses and sewing machines with tools of terrorism.

That once prosperous West Bank city of Hebron is now facing a more than 70% increase in poverty due to the continuing Israeli closures, a study by the Palestinian Centre for Communication and Development Studies has shown. Moreover, any visit to the once vibrant town will show the same decline. Removing the most important safety net from the thousands of families and children who depend upon the Charities will wreak devastation for Hebron.

There exists neither a substitute charitable or public fund nor the time to create one, were that be possible. If indeed the army has proof of these charges, then they should produce it for the communities that will be harmed by their actions and not, as usual, only to closed Israeli tribunals. Even if the charges are made public and can be verified, which would probably have been done by now if it could have been done, destroying the bakeries that have fed them, the sewing school that taught them a craft and closing the new schools that would have offered an education to hundreds of young boys and girls in this impoverished city, -- these are clearly collective punishments, that the Israeli army has imposed to intimidate and crush the local population and to remove their final hope.

Mr. Bulos : '' I can't trust the Israeli Military ''

In his meeting with the steering committee of saving orphans, Mr. Jawad Bulos, the Charity's Lawyer, gave the committee a briefing on the legal side of closing and confiscating the ICS facilities.

"The very first moment the charity received the closure orders I appealed to the Military Legal Advisor and asked him to arrange a meeting with me. The Advisor refused to meet me and later he responded rejecting our appeal. I was forced, then, to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court," said Bulos.

Again, the Israeli Supreme Court was not a better choice for Bulos than the Legal advisor. '' After five days of my appeal to the court, the court refused to issue a stop order (prohibition order) which is normal in such cases. I was informed later that the court will not discuss our appeal before October,'' added Mr. Bulos.

The expert man of courts is left confused. The Military is working on the ground, the court will not issue an order before October and the stop order is absent. Despite these facts, Bulos does not think that the Military may take further actions to embarrass the court or to create a new trend in the Israeli courts. Yet, '' I can not trust the Israeli Military,'' he remarked.
The expert lawyer, who seemed hopeless, tries to make use of his proficiency in negotiating. This time not in courts but with the Military officers. '' We met with them once. We discussed all details and ways of getting out of this tunnel. The Military officers seemed not interested,'' he thought. Bulos believes that a major part of the solution is political.

Jawad Bulos, a Greek Orthodox Palestinian Christian from Galilee, was born in 1956. He got his degree in Law from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1980. Since then, he has been defending Palestinians. Mr. Bulos has a reputation of being consistent , patient and expert.
You may write Mr. Bulos at: jawaddb@yahoo.com

Israeli Military Threw Sewing Machines into City Dump

It was discovered ,few days ago, that the Israeli military had thrown all material confiscated from the bakeries and sewing workshop into the city dump. Eye witnesses confirmed that an Israeli truck stopped by the city dump at 5.30pm on Thursday 1st of May.



'' More than fifty scrap collectors were waiting for the truck and emptied it in less than 30 minutes,'' H. W. told our team. These included sewing machines, steam iron, dough mixers, dresses, desks, chairs…..

Some people led our team to some locations where some of the machines were kept.

To see photos, please click:
http://www.icshebron.org/pics/mashgal-yatta.pdf