Help Us Replant Saffa!
Join the Palestine Solidarity Project as we prepare to replant the Saffa valley, destroyed by settlers in 2009 and currently under threat of annexation by the Israeli military. Saffa is a Palestinian agricultural community at the edge of the illegal Bat Ayn settlement, and Saffa farmers are frequently subject to settler violence and harassment. A series of settler attacks in the summer of 2009 left several Palestinian farmers wounded and much of the land destroyed.
Settlers have destroyed nearly all of the trees in the Saffa valley, depriving many farmers of their primary source of income. To make matters worse, the Israeli military has recently begun claiming that the land is “state land,” indicating their intention to annex the valley to the illegal Bat Ayn settlement. All of the farmers have documents proving their ownership of the land. In 2009 the army began
issuing a series of “closed military zone” orders denying the farmers access to their land, and attempts to reach the land have been violently suppressed.
For over a year the Palestine Solidarity Project has organized delegations of internationals and Israelis to accompany the farmers to their land, in order to deter settler violence and military harassment. In January 2010 the Palestine Solidarity Project organized the replanting of over two thousand trees in Saffa, to replace the ones destroyed by settlers and to deter further annexation. We are hoping to plant another three thousand trees this winter on land intended for annexation by the settlement. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
Join Us!
We are calling all people of conscious to join the farmers of Saffa as they prepare their land for planting. The presence of large groups, including Israelis and internationals, helps deter settler and military violence, and will hopefully prevent imminent annexation. We will be working in the land Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays from 9 am until noon starting October 3. To get involved contact our volunteer
coordinator, Maria Lewis, at (972) 59-708-6407.
Donate!
All of the trees (and tools) are paid for by the generosity people like you! The Palestine Solidarity Project is in need of donations to make our goals in Saffa a reality. Donate online at
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/donate/.
To learn more about our work in Saffa over the last two years, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n27ZXkRfHNU.
Hope to see you there!
The Palestine Solidarity Project