Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 23:21:59 -0700
From: Joanie Misrack jmisrack@worldpeace.org
Dear friends,
I forward this to you because this school is an incredible place where Palestinian children are becoming young peace builders, where they are being given a future previously unheard of for their people. They even learn Hebrew and about democracy.... My visit there a few years ago was by far the highlight of my trip to Israel.
please read carefully, write a letter or two, and send a generous, tax-deductible contribution if you can.
Thanks so very much!
with love and Peace, JoaniE
From amalzh@hally.net
From: amalzh amalzh@hally.net
The Hope Flowers Secondary School and Al Amal Child Care Center
P. O. Box 732, Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine, via Israel
phone, 972-2-274-0693 or -4975; fax, 972-2-274-7084
web site: http://www.samarkand.org/Hope 0Flowers/HopeFlowindex.htm
Dear Friends,
Warm greetings to you from Bethlehem area. We hope that you are enjoying the movement of the season into spring, and that it will be a time of happy blossoming for us all. We ourselves began the season with a special celebration for International Mothers' Day, making another bit of local peace history with the appearance for the first time of some Israeli third-graders performing here with our own West Bank students. We look forward to saying more below about this special event.
Building Permit??: Now we would like to provide the latest news of our ongoing dealings with the Israeli Civil Administration (C. A.) about our building. This is the reason for the timing of our writing, our latest hearing at their center in Beth El near Ramallah having been on Monday, 12 April. Please attend closely to this report if you can, because we would like you to write to them now on our behalf, and we will tell you how and why. Thank you for your attention.
On Monday morning there were five of us - 2 from the school, one U. S. consular officer, one U. S. embassy officer, and a close Israeli friend who knows the law. We were greeted by four representatives of the Civil Administration's Subcommittee for Supervision of Building Activities, three of whom the three of us who had been there on 1 March had met at that time. Those three of us were surprised and NOT delighted by what we heard. It seemed that our hopefulness had been shortsighted, that there would not after all be a solution available to us with a narrow, simple focus. It seemed that after all, in a sense, "push" was coming to "shove," at least in terms of administrative law regulations.
The "New Deal": What appears to be true now, as the time closes for the decision about the fate of our outstructure-in-progress, the putative focus of the original notice to appear at the first hearing, is that this (sub)committee will NOT be able to give a permit to build for it, or for any piece of our compound. This highly probable (98%?) position was brought to the group by the new member of their panel, a higher-ranking military person than the one who presided at the first hearing. He did still speak in terms of probabilities, while one member of their panel did say explicitly this time that it was "not logical" for the permit to be granted, due to the zoning laws that apply. Those zoning laws may be familiar to some of you, as they are the ones remaining from the British Mandate period, set in 1942 to regulate development then, and often invoked controversially in recent years to justify demolition of houses built without permits in the Jerusalem area.
These regulations are sometimes referred to as the "Green Laws," defining most of the areas not already inhabited in 1942 for agricultural use - Green Areas - as opposed to "public" use. So, like so much else that had not been built on then, the land where the school and its whole neighborhood now stand is all deemed agricultural-use, "green" land.
Our early-received assurances that the Israeli authorities were not focussing on our main school building, but only on the outstructure, had let us hope that we might not need at this time to confront the full implications of the ultimate conflict between our location and this law. But it now seems very clear that our case will not be spared from the "logic" of this conflict. As things stand now, the C. A. will almost certainly not issue a permit for the outstructure as a result of the current building-application procedure that we are now in. Still we agreed to return for another hearing on this application on 24 May, before which time we must submit yet another architectural drawing. But more important for our real chances are the other options that the C. A. panel outlined in our meeting on 12 April. These are the ones where we would like your active suppport, and they are described below:
Request for Exemption, and Application for Re-zoning: We will pass without comment the fact that these options were not previously described to us, and the fact that two of their panel nevertheless insisted that they had told us one of these options the last time, despite none of us having understood anything like that. Let us move forward. We will now pursue these options to the extent of our abilities.
First we will write a letter to the head of the C. A., requesting an exemption from the regulations requiring us to get a permit. His granting such a request would mean that our buildings could stay as they are without need of further permit applications; however, simply doing this would also mean that we would have no right either to complete the "kitchen" outstructure, nor to complete any of the building plans on the rest of the compound, even when there might be funds to permit doing so. This would not provide well for the future that we hope our school and peace education will have here. But it could prevent anything from being demolished, too.
We will also pursue application for a zoning change for the school property. This will require going through our engineer, and his firm's coordinating with a specialist as well as with the engineer on the C. A. panel. It will require submission of a specially drawn map of the local area, siting the school among the other structures of the neighborhood. This will involve a cost that we would much rather not bear - approximately $3,800 - except for its offering a chance for the school to exist and grow legally into the future, even if that future persists in our Area C, occupied category of existence. If only there were a procedure for making an application to become designated Area A! We will make this application as soon as possible. The engineer has already agreed to begin the process, and we hope to have the application under submission before the hearing on 24 May.
How You Can Help, and Please Do: We believe that your letters to the C. A. might improve the chances of success for our request for exemption and our application for re-zoning. We expect to have our request for exemption in the committee's office by 21 April.
Best would be to send your letter of support to them by fax to 972-2-997-7344,
and addressed to:
Head of the Civil Administration,
c/o Subcommittee for Supervision of Building Activity,
re: the Hope Flowers School, case number B-14/99.
If by post, then address the same, but adding Civil Administration, Beth El, Israel.
Please tell them that you are supporting on our behalf their approval of our request, owing to the nature of our school and the work that we have done on behalf of helping to build the bridges of peace between the peoples - or whatever words you might like to use about why we are deserving of their positive consideration. Please say also that we will be applying for re-zoning of our property from agricultural to public use, and that you would like them to approve our application so that we can continue to serve the peace of the region through our apporach to peace education.
Of course, we will let you know specifically when we make that application, but we think the time for action is now. If you do write to them now, or soon, please save a copy, in case we might need to ask you to send again at a time in the near future. And if you will, please let us know that you have sent something; it will help us in our dealings in May.
We also believe that communications with governmental representatives will be appropriate and useful at this time, and would encourage you to write on behalf of positive action on our request and application to:
American Secretary of State Madeline Albright
fax:202-736-4461;
e-mail: secretary@state.gov
and to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
fax: 972-2-566-4838;
e-mail: pm@pmo.gov.il.
We are very grateful. Thank you.
Finances again: Dear Friends, our financial condition has not improved since we last wrote. Thanks to generous contributions and the halt to all building activity, we have been able to meet enough of our costs to remain open. But the margin is very slim. Please, if it is within your power to extend yourself again in this academic year, send us something to help us to meet our teachers' salaries, our phone bills, and the heavy demands of this fight for our right to exist where we are.
We know that there are many demands on your funds, too, and we appreciate whatever you can do for us in helping to make a successful end to this critical period of our struggle. Contributions may be sent directly to us at the above address, by registered letter. And in the States, American friends can again get verification of their tax-deductible donations to the school by sending checks to the Orange County Middleast Peace Fund, P. O. Box 5891, Orange, CA 92863-5891.
To Close Sweetly: Thankfully we note that our Mothers' Day celebration was a big success for all concerned, despite the abrupt return to winter weather that overshadowed the afternoon, outdoor event. But it was anyway very sweet, with the return to the school of many old friends from Israel for the very special program to honor the mothers here and everywhere. Making her singing debut in the Middle East with the assistance of Israeli friends, the American singer for peace Carole Isis honored us with several of her original songs.
We made the occasion also for planting a Peace Pole, with the prayer "May peace prevail on earth" in Arabic, Hebrew, English and Japanese on its four sides. Also we were joined by a dance troupe from Al-Hadaf peace center of the Old City in Jerusalem in our first cooperation with them.
And in the program of singing and dancing, our third-grade class was joined by their project partners from the Jerusalem Waldorf School - the first time that Israeli school children have performed with Palestinian children on the West Bank! This is the kind of activity that our approach to peace education makes possible, and among many others, one of the reasons that we presume to ask your continued support for our work. We are sure that we can continue to lead in building such positive relationships if we can continue our existence. Thank you for your consideration.
The Hope Flowers School, 15 April 1999
Here are two of the letters I wrote (similar one to Netanyahu):
Dear Secretary Albright,
I would like you to know about a situation in Palestine that is extremely important. It relates to the Hope Flowers School there, and a very difficult procedure they have been going through with the Civil Administration, Beth El, Israel.
I would very much appreciate your support of this extraordinary school, which is teaching democracy to Palestinian children and offering them a new kind of future, in harmony with the Israeli culture. Following is a copy of the letter that I sent to the C.A. on their behalf.
Thank you very much for your support of this courageous educational institution.
Respectfully,
Joanie Misrack
Head of the Civil Administration, c/o Subcommittee for Supervision of Building Activity Fax # 972-2-997-7344
Re: the Hope Flowers School, Case number B-14/99
Dear Head of the Civil Administration, .
This is to offer my support of your approval of the request of the Hope Flowers School, for an exemption from the regulations requiring them to get a permit.
I have visited this wonderful school and been extremely impressed with the work that they have done to help build the bridges of peace between diverse peoples. Children who have an opportunity to attend this school are being given an excellent education and a very special foundation to be excellent citizens who will create a harmonious, peaceful community in their future.
The Hope Flowers School is very deserving of your positive consideration, and it would be quite important for you to approve their request.
Further, please note that the School will soon be applying for re-zoning of their property from agricultural to public use. I would very much appreciate your also approving that application so the School can continue to serve the peace of the region through their approach to peace education.
Thank you very much for supporting the future of the Hope Flowers School.
In the Spirit of Peace and Friendship,
Joanie Misrack
Pathways To Peace
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THE LIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE |