The Israeli Army has decided to close down the Islamic Charitable Society in
Hebron, Palestine. They claim that the society is linked to Hamas and channels
money to terrorism but this is not true. The army has stolen a large amount of
food and equipment from the Society including computers and 2 school buses.
Food and bread for the orphans has been stolen also.
Hebron, Palestine. They claim that the society is linked to Hamas and channels
money to terrorism but this is not true. The army has stolen a large amount of
food and equipment from the Society including computers and 2 school buses.
Food and bread for the orphans has been stolen also.
Boys Orphanage, Hebron
Families who rent from
the society have been evicted from their homes and many businesses have been
forced to close or relocate. Schools and orphanages have been given 7 days to
close from the 1st April 08.
The Islamic Charitable Society (Jumaiah Shumah Muslimeen) was founded in 1962
before the occupation of the West Bank and several years before Hamas was founded. Most of its members and employees are not members of Hamas but belong
to other political organisations or none at all. The accounts are published
every year and have been checked by the relevant Israeli authorities. There
are no irregularities. All the money raised for charitable works has been accounted for and has gone to the purposes inteneded.
In Hebron the Society operates 3 schools and 2 orphanages. In the districts
around Hebron they run another 5 schools, caring for a total of 7,000 schoolchildren and 3,000 orphans. They also extend help to a large number of desperately poor families. I have visited schools and orphanages for both boys and girls and was very impressed by what I saw there. The pupils seem very happy and the orphans are well fed. The boys’ orphanage is a very impressive new building and I shared lunch with them there. The boys were somewhat rowdy as you might expect; clearly no excessive discipline or religiosity.
The curriculum and books used in the schools are the same as those used in
Palestinian state run schools. Both pupils and teachers denied that there is
indoctrination or that they are taught to hate Jews. As several people pointed
out it is the behaviour of the Israelis that causes people to hate them.
Teachers never feed such ideas to their pupils.
The Society raises money from mosques abroad, including the US and UK. The
UK charity InterPal has given substantial grants to the orphanages. They invest
much of their money in property and use the rental income for their daily expenses. The businesses and families who have been evicted have no connection
to Hamas. Their only crime is that they rent property from a society with
Islamic links. I visited one of my wife’s aunts. She and her three children
had been given 24 hours notice to move. Her husband is working abroad and
she has poor health. She had managed to find another flat but looked exhausted
from the ordeal.
Two of the businesses, Mama and Pretty Woman, appealed the decision to the
Israeli high court. The order to evict has been suspended but not revoked.
They argued that they had spent huge amounts of their own money in refurbishing
their shops and were being unduly penalised for something they have no
involvement in. The threat of closure makes it hard for them to continue in
business. The army has threatened to impound all the stocks of any business
failing to comply with their orders.
Once again we see the Israeli army involved in collective punishment of
Palestinian civil society. In any other country this would be considered a
war crime and be prosecuted through international courts. It is only the power
ful protection of the USA and Britain that allows Israel to get away with such
blatant crimes against humanity. Please do whatever you can to pressure the
Israeli government and your own government to change these inhuman policies
.
In peace and hope,
Deacon Dave Havard
the society have been evicted from their homes and many businesses have been
forced to close or relocate. Schools and orphanages have been given 7 days to
close from the 1st April 08.
The Islamic Charitable Society (Jumaiah Shumah Muslimeen) was founded in 1962
before the occupation of the West Bank and several years before Hamas was founded. Most of its members and employees are not members of Hamas but belong
to other political organisations or none at all. The accounts are published
every year and have been checked by the relevant Israeli authorities. There
are no irregularities. All the money raised for charitable works has been accounted for and has gone to the purposes inteneded.
In Hebron the Society operates 3 schools and 2 orphanages. In the districts
around Hebron they run another 5 schools, caring for a total of 7,000 schoolchildren and 3,000 orphans. They also extend help to a large number of desperately poor families. I have visited schools and orphanages for both boys and girls and was very impressed by what I saw there. The pupils seem very happy and the orphans are well fed. The boys’ orphanage is a very impressive new building and I shared lunch with them there. The boys were somewhat rowdy as you might expect; clearly no excessive discipline or religiosity.
The curriculum and books used in the schools are the same as those used in
Palestinian state run schools. Both pupils and teachers denied that there is
indoctrination or that they are taught to hate Jews. As several people pointed
out it is the behaviour of the Israelis that causes people to hate them.
Teachers never feed such ideas to their pupils.
The Society raises money from mosques abroad, including the US and UK. The
UK charity InterPal has given substantial grants to the orphanages. They invest
much of their money in property and use the rental income for their daily expenses. The businesses and families who have been evicted have no connection
to Hamas. Their only crime is that they rent property from a society with
Islamic links. I visited one of my wife’s aunts. She and her three children
had been given 24 hours notice to move. Her husband is working abroad and
she has poor health. She had managed to find another flat but looked exhausted
from the ordeal.
Two of the businesses, Mama and Pretty Woman, appealed the decision to the
Israeli high court. The order to evict has been suspended but not revoked.
They argued that they had spent huge amounts of their own money in refurbishing
their shops and were being unduly penalised for something they have no
involvement in. The threat of closure makes it hard for them to continue in
business. The army has threatened to impound all the stocks of any business
failing to comply with their orders.
Once again we see the Israeli army involved in collective punishment of
Palestinian civil society. In any other country this would be considered a
war crime and be prosecuted through international courts. It is only the power
ful protection of the USA and Britain that allows Israel to get away with such
blatant crimes against humanity. Please do whatever you can to pressure the
Israeli government and your own government to change these inhuman policies
.
In peace and hope,
Deacon Dave Havard
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Israel Attempting to Close Hebron-Area Schools, Orphanages Serving 7,000 Palesti
10.04.2008 10:05
Children demonstrating against the Israeli military's attempt to close schools
On 25 February 2008, the Israeli military commander of the West Bank, General Gadi Shamni, issued a military order confiscating all properties located in Hebron that belong to these Islamic societies, including schools, stores, centres and residential houses. According to Palestinian security sources, in the past month the Israeli army conducted an intensive military operation in the city of Hebron, ransacking several offices, schools and properties of these societies. On 26 February the army invaded several buildings while damaging gates and furniture and stealing food, notebooks, books, clothes and computers. On 6 May the Israeli army attacked a store on Hebron’s El-Hawooz Street, where the Islamic Charitable Society collected clothes and personal items for the orphans.
According to Abdul-Kareem Farrah, the information advisor to the Islamic Charitable Society, these Israeli thefts and damages cost approximately NIS 1 million.
The original military order indicated that the schools and orphanages would be closed as of 1 April 2008. However, after the governor of Hebron, Hussain al-A’raj, expressed his astonishment at the order and requested the Israeli authorities to revoke it, and after the lawyer Osama Hallabi petitioned the Israeli High Court in this matter, the order was postponed for one week. On the morning of 2 April, school officials received word that the Israeli High Court had given the Israeli army four days to provide full justification for the closure and evacuation of the schools and orphanages. On 3 April the attorney for the Islamic Charitable Society was informed that the Israeli High Court will rule in this matter on Monday 7 April. Today.
According to Attorney Hallabi, the military order does not specify a real and concrete reason for the closures, and falls under the category of a “security reason order.” Hallabi reports that most of the charitable societies’ buildings are located in Area A, which falls under jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, while others are located in Area B, which falls under PA administrative jurisdiction and Israeli security jurisdiction. This means the charitable associations should be allowed to petition the Palestinian governor of the Hebron District or at least to the Civil Affairs Ministry of the PA. Israeli authorities have no right to confiscate public or private properties not belonging to their jurisdiction. Moreover, the closure order violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, as the Convention explicitly states that an occupation authority cannot confiscate properties within occupied territories.
The Islamic Charitable Society and the Muslim Youth Society provided numerous proofs of their legality. All of their financial dealings and accounting are completely transparent. They have contacts and relations with official organizations and banks. The Islamic Charitable Society was founded in 1957 and the Muslim Youth Society in 1961, both well before the establishment of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Both societies always had legal permission for their buildings and their work, first during the Jordanian control and after under the Israeli occupation.
Several protest marches took place in recent days in Hebron and the surrounding area against the confiscation order, augmented by support from various international organisations. At this very moment (3pm local time on 7 April), a press conference for foreign consulate representatives, human rights organizations and journalists is being conducted in one of the schools under threat. There is a tremendous grassroots effort to save these properties with support of the local and international media and non-government organisations.
If the military confiscation and closure will be implemented, 7000 Palestinian students, aged 5 to 16, will have no school. 4500 orphans will become homeless for the second time. 5000 weakened families will go without assistance. 600 workers will lose their livelihood.
This situation is alarming. Who can provide this assistance and shelter? The occupying forces of the Israeli military or government? The Palestinian Authority, which lacks money to build a state with all the necessary infrastructures? Why leave these children without homes, education and hope for their future? What is their crime?
It appears that Israel is planning to target all Palestinian infrastructures which can be related in some way to Islamic organizations and movements. Negatively affecting the life of thousands of people and children, this policy is once again a collective punishment against the entire Palestinian people and international law as a whole.
By targeting Islamic group and associations, Israel is attempting to steer the Israeli-Palestinian conflict towards a religious dimension. In doing so, Israel is both exploiting and bolstering the American-led international equation of Islam with terrorism, and Muslim with terrorist, in order to further dispossess the Palestinian people and to destroy possibilities for peace in the area. To date this international understanding has had horrific implications for the Palestinians, particularly in making it possible to dehumanize the 1.5 million Palestinian women, men and children of the Gaza Strip and declare them and the area as a “hostile entity.” To kill and cut off the basic necessities of life, and to do so with complete impunity. Israel is now acting to dehumanise Palestinian children and orphans in the Hebron area, whose sole ‘crime’ is to attend schools and reside in orphanages run by Islamic charity groups.
Israel had the possibility to negotiate with Islamic parties and organizations, but they failed to do so. Numerous Palestinians do not possess any possibility other than the social efforts of some Islamic groups which truly care for the social needs of the people. Often time people do not have any hope other than their religion. Why steal from them even their individual hopes and dreams?
repost - Ahmad Jaradat, Alternative Information Center (AIC)
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http://www.alternativenews.org/news/_english/_israel-attempting-to-close-hebron-area-schools-orphanages-serving-7000-palestinian-children-20080407.html