On September 10, 1998 at 10:30 am the Israeli military destroyed the fruit
and olive orchards Abdel Jawad Jabber, father of Atta Jabber. (See attached
release.)

"This is barbaric, savage and I call on Ross to come here and see what kind of
peace Israel is talking about," Atta Jabber said, referring to US peace envoy
Dennis Ross who arrived in Israel on Wednesday.

The destruction of 2 and 1/2 acres of fig and olive trees, follows the
demolition of the Atta Jabber family home on August 19, the ongoing
confiscation of irrigation equipment from farmers in the valley (during the
course of which CPTer Jim Satterwhite was arrested on August 4, 1998) and the
bulldozing of 17 acres of vineyards and orchard on May 7 to build a gas
station.

The Beqa'a valley lies between the Israeli settlements of Kiryat Arba and
Givat Ha Harsina. Although many families living in the valley have deeds
dating back to the Ottoman Empire, the Israeli government persists in
referring to it as "state land" and has slated it for the expansion of the two
settlements on the outskirts of Hebron.

Christian Peacemaker teams believes that hundreds of men, women and children
in the Beqa'a are in imminent danger of losing their homes and their
livelihoods. We are asking that all of our supporters send e-mails
immediately to Dennis Ross, currently conducting negotiations with Arafat and
Netanyahu asking that he A) visit the Beqa'a and talk to the people there who
are in the process of losing all they have and B) make public the U.S.
government's earlier stipulation that Israel must cease all home demolitions
and land confiscations immdiately. (The U.S. congress pressured Clinton NOT to
publicize a list of stipulations that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
had recommended as part of reviving the Oslo process.)

Send e-mails to secretary [at] state [dot] gov. Include "Attn. Dennis Ross" in the
subject heading.

CPT is also asking its supporters to fax or e-mail one or more of the
following Israeli leaders and demand that the creeping annexation of the
Beqa'a, and the destruction of homes, vineyards, orchard and farm land that
this annexation entails, be halted immediately.

ISRAELI GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, fax: 011-972-2-651-2631; e-mail:
likud1 [at] likud [dot] org [dot] il or fax: 011-972-2-566-4838; email: pm [at] pmo [dot] gov [dot] il

President Ezer Weizman, fax: 011-972-2-561-0037

Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, fax: 011-972-3-691-6940