Israel threatens to confiscate Palestinian land in Bethlehem
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) has a long history with Tent of Nations, a family owned farm located in the southwest hills of Bethlehem.
Owned and operated by the Nassar family, the land is not only an active farm but a dedicated space for peace and reconciliation work. If you’ve traveled with CMEP to the Holy Land, there is a good chance that you visited the farm and were greeted at the entrance to their farm by a stone that had their guiding principle, “we refuse to be enemies,” emblazoned on it. Recent events have raised the concern that the farm is at increased risk of destruction or confiscation.
On May 21, 2021, more than 1,000 fruit trees were destroyed by arson.
On June 9, 2021, the Israeli military entered the farm with vehicles and a bulldozer, destroying over 50 trees and damaging the terraced land.
In the last few months, the Nassar family has been under increased pressure as the pace of settlement expansion, construction of roads for settlers that restrict the movement of Palestinians, and the use of checkpoints have accelerated.
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Presently, the most significant concern is the delay in the re-registration of the property. For 30 years, the Nassar family has been in the Israeli Military and Supreme Courts defending their land from demolition and confiscation.
The process has been subject to continued delays on the part of Israel, requiring that the Nassars re-initiate the process multiple times.
Finally, in 2019, the Nassars received confirmation that their re-registration application to establish ownership was complete. After two more years of additional delays, a meeting was held in February 2021 by the Israeli Registration Committee, the purpose of which was to determine and inform the family about next steps for re-registration.
Despite repeated inquiries, the Nassars continue to await notification of the results of that meeting.
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In light of recent events, the delay in the land re-registration process exposes the Nassar’s farm to severe risk.
It is critical that the re-registration process of the Nassar land be concluded without further delay and that no demolition or eviction orders are issued.
Your help is needed to exert pressure on Israel to stop issuing demolition and eviction orders and to complete the re-registration of the land.
Please contact your members of Congress today and urge them to raise this issue with the State Department immediately.
Kyle Cristofalo
Director of Advocacy and Government Relations
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
P.S. The content of the alert was written by Friends of Tent of Nations North America and shared with permission. After taking action, sign this petition, circulated by Friends of Tent of Nations, which will be delivered to the U.S. Secretary of State and the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
110 Maryland Ave NE, Suite 311
Washington, District of Columbia 20002
(202) 543-1222
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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