End the Occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the blockade against Gaza.

I have recently returned from the Occupied Palestinian Territories where I served as an Ecumenical Accompanier, a program sponsored by the World Council of Churches. EAs provide a peaceful presence for the Palestinian people and work with Israeli and Palestinian peace groups in finding ways to engage in non-violent resistance to the Occupation.
While I was there, Christians were denied access to the Old City in Jerusalem during Holy Week, Muslim men under age 50 as well as school children were denied access to the Al Aqsa Mosque Compound on a regular basis, a Bedouin farmer's home was demolished by the IDF three times, Abu Omar's home was bulldozed, and 14 families in another Bedouin village received eviction notices. In South Hebron Hills, a farmer's entire wheat harvest was torched, as it lay drying in the field, by Israeli settlers. Daoud, owner of The Tent of Nations Conference Center near Bethlehem, lost 800 fruit trees to settlers. Our tax dollars are paying for these human rights abuses that take place on a daily basis because of the Occupation of the Palestinian Territories. As long as we remain silent, we are complicit in whatever violence takes place on either side. I urge you to sign this petition to help end the Occupation and give the Palestinian people their freedom and Israel the security it longs for.
Thank you,
Lynn Coulthard