The victory of Ovadia – Newsletter of Parashat T’tzave – Shabbat Zachor ›

Parasha / E-Letter | ‏| 29.02.12

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After wining his battle with Amidar, Ovadya stops his hunger strike and eats a bureka. A picture from “Hamaabara” web site.

Parashat “T’tzave”: The weekly report of Rabbis for Human Rights

In Prashat haShavua of Teruma, we asked for your help for Ovadia‘s struggle against Amidar. Due to the mutual struggle of all the social activists, Ovadia Ben-Avraham stopped his hunger strike. An agreement with Amidar was reached and the eviction order for February 27th was canceled. This is additional proof that the mutual action of the social group brings results. Shabbat Shalom.

Last week we had two partial successes: in the struggle against the Bedouins’ eviction from their lands by the JNF and in the struggle against the eviction of public housing tenants. Rabbi Arik Ascherman connects those successes to the breastplate of the High Priest we read about in this week’s Torah portion and the questions we grapple with on Shabbat Zachor.

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15 sheep were buried under the rubbles. Photo: Comet-ME

15 sheep were buried under the rubbles. Photo: Comet-ME

The security forces did not pity the animals when they, against the Supreme Court ruling, demolished structures In Ta’ale, in the South Hebron Hills. “Haaretz” wrote about it and Quamar Mishirqi-Asad, head lawyer of Rabbis for Human Rights is quoted in the article. Read about a horrifying story of destruction and death.  Pay attention to MK Nitzan Horovitz comments mentioned in his newsletter regarding the struggle against sealing of cisterns in the West Bank, especially in South Hebron Hills.

“One who saves a single life, it is as if one has saved an entire world.” – Sanhedrin. Security, as a concept that expresses the importance of life and the right to live without fear, is a very important matter. Read the column “Violation of Human Rights Damages Security: a Collection of Facts”, written by Yariv Mohar (who is not representing the organization’s opinion).

We are at the end of the project “but thou shalt not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man”: Tu Bishvat project. We are happy to give you Rabbi Ehud Achituv‘s response on the issue of cutting down trees. Rabbi Achituv is the rabbi of Neve Dekalim – Ein Tzurim Community. On Tu Beshvat, the Jewish “festival of trees”, Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann went out to the Palestinian village of Genia. Read his personal story.

We are happy to inform that on February 22nd at 15:12 due to the pressure of the Supreme Court judges, the State agreed to enable Sha’avan Jabarin to participate in the Human Rights Council conference in Geneva.

Aisha Sidawi returns from the conference of the International Day of the Fight against Poverty with new insights. She is not ashamed to speak on subjects that were never heard about in the Knesset. She raises the question how to speak on poverty. The poor people expect only the basic things from the state, Jabotinsky’s five “M”s, but his “ideological successors” in the Israeli government are not committed to provide even this. A special article for the Day of Fighting against Poverty, that was commemorated in the Knesset.

Rabbi Kobi Weiss updates from the field in Beit Shean: In the last few weeks we have started to see the results of the training. A few volunteers are already working and our presence in Amidar with the tenants is increasing. The renovations of “M.B”‘s apartment are continuing. The Ochana family has a general and close escort. There are new cases which follow. This week  was a good opportunity for the organization to express itself when a woman who was evicted from the Jerusalem encampment agreed to move to Beit Shan in order to get a public housing apartment. This was delayed for a long time and two “HaMaabara” activists accompanied the tenant to check what is going on in Beit Shean. Rabbi Kobi and Rivka from Rabbis for Human Rights joined them in the visit to Amidar and initiated a conversation with the local manager of Amidar. At the end all the obstacles were removed and the manager unusually approved a one guarantee signature and the money from the Ministry of Housing arrived. The bottom line is that in the coming month the apartment will be renovated and the tenant, a single mother of 2 children, will move to her new apartment and will be accompanied by the organization that will continue to follow and will help her with her absorption into the new location.

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Shabbat Shalom