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The Shofat demolitions:
what one Israeli saw

See also

End
   demolitions,
   Bishops
   demand

Palestinians
   homeless

Letter
   writing

Al Haq
   report

Rev.
   Sandra
   Olewine

United
   Methodist
   relief

UMC in
   Middle East

Jerusalem
   demolitions

Additional
  documentation
Dr. Jeff Halper is a professor at Ben Gurion University, an anthropologist, and the director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. An Israeli advocate for justice and peace, he has led church study groups and other interested visitors on a bus tour few tourists experience: the settlements ringing Jerusalem—and the Palestinian farms, villages and Bedouin camps razed to make room for them. Halper is among the vanguard of Israelis trying to burst the bubble of his country's complacency by challenging the official story.

In this report from Shofat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem, Halper highlights the violence of occupation that "goes on day in and day out," according to United Methodist Liaison in Jerusalem the Rev. Sandra Olewine, "relentless in its brutality and reach."

Olewine points out that very day the world shakes its head and wonders when Palestinians will stop the violence. "But few comprehend the violence of Israeli occupation that goes on 'behind the scenes' every day," she says.

Olewine, assigned by the General Board of Global Ministries to work with the Catholic Relief Services in Jerusalem, wants you to share this story shared with your friends, neighbors, congregations and your representative in Congress.

"It is time to demand the halt of occupation that violence in its many forms, from both sides, might be dispelled," she says.

Look for Halper's story "An Israeli in Palestine" on the Alternative Information Center home page.
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