Orphans Under Threat: Statement of Support

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

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

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Are Schools and Orphanages Under Threat?

Our Lawyer, Mr Jawad Bulus, An Israeli Arab, appealed to the Israeli military within the 14 day period they alloted with closure orders. On 30 th of March , Mr Bulus received the following..........

Attn: lawyer Jawad Bulus
Subject: Closure of the Islamic Charitable Society in Hebron
Our Ref.: 2\6\00 – 2\4066 of 19\10\2005
2\6\000 – 2\6246 of 9 March 2008
Your Ref: of 3\3\08 and at our office on 9 March 2008 and 23 March 2008
By this we declare receiving your appeal of the above mentioned subject.
In your appeal, you explained the requests of the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) against the closure and confiscation orders of properties that were issued by the General of Command (GOC) In Judea and Samaria.
In the above mentioned appeal you stated the following:
a) The GOC has no authority to close or confiscate properties in A or B areas which are under the full responsibility Palestinian Authority (PA).
b) The ICS is not connected to Hamas.
According to what you explained, you asked the GOC to cancel the closure and confiscation orders that were issued against the facilities and properties of the ICS.
I do inform you in this regard that your appeal was proposed to the GOC who insisted to refuse it for the following reasons:

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28. As we mentioned earlier, we would like to inform you that the claims of your client of absence of authority in A and B areas were discussed several times before and they were rejected.
29. We would like to draw your attention, in this regard; to the military court order of appeal 2016 \ 07 (enclosed) which explains the point.
30. To sum up, it was proved that your client (ICS) has connections with Hamas, the illegal party, and due to this there is an everlasting danger on the safety of the public, the area and the state of Israel. The GOC, therefore, decided to refuse your appeal.
31. The GOC intends to work continuously to perform the closure and confiscation orders that he signed, to close and confiscate the properties of the ICS immediately. Moreover, the GOC checks the possibility of expanding his activities against the ICS in a more effective and wider way due to the criminal acts in serving Hamas.
32. There is no need to say that the continuing work of the ICS which includes the working facilities or providing any service through it is a very dangerous violation of the law in the area. The GOC intends to take all necessary measures to stop that.
33. According to all that I mentioned, I ask you to inform your client to immediately stop all its activities. Otherwise, they will be exposing themselves to severe measures in both criminal and administrative frames.
34. As for the schools, orphanages and kindergartens mentioned in your appeal, the GOC gives himself the complete right to take all necessary measures according to the law if they continue to work in these facilities.
35. As for any future arrangements, all appeals and requests should be directed through official parties in the Palestinian Authorities – Hebron Governor- or the Minister of Civil Affair in the PA who has direct contact with Israeli Civil Administration.
With respect
Hariel
Officer- Political Advisor