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GFA Article(s)

• ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: It’s Time For The U.S. To Respond To Israeli Insults
  
• WHERE DO THEY GO FROM HERE? The Iraqi Parliamentary Election And The Formation Of A New Government
  
• THE IRAQI ELECTIONS 2010
  
• Human Rights Abuses
  
• THE NEVER BEFORE CAMPAIGN
  
• MAPPING THE FUTURE OF IRAQ: AUTONOMOUS REGIONS ALLOWED UNDER THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION
  

Yahav Zohar – Settlement Peace Activist Volunteer

Listen to an Introduction from Citizen Paul

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Citizen Paul and Yahav on balcony over-looking Israeli settlement

During our trip, we met Yahav Zohar, an Israeli who has worked as a journalist and translator but also commits at least one day a week to volunteering his time to work toward a just peace –– to end the Israeli occupation. Yahav was the official guide for the antidemolition group The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD), an organization that
opposes the demolition of Palestinian homes and unjust tactics taken by the military and housing authority for demolishing homes and granting permits.
 

On the day we met, we had attended a presentation by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian Territory. We were briefed on the humanitarian crisis and consequences that need to be addressed:

The United Nations deserves the World’s Support –– it has had little help and has had many obstructions from Israel!

• Lack of protection for civilians and continuing violence
• Closure, movement restrictions and lack of access
• Political geographical and institutional fragmentation
• High Food Insecurity
• Continuous Decline in the Economy and Socio-Economic Conditions
• Agricultural Livelihoods Threatened
• Health-Care Quality Deteriorating; Mental-Health-Disorder Symptoms on Rise
• Access to Quality Water and Sanitation Problematic
• Basic education standards Deteriorating
• Palestinian Civilians at Risk and in Need of Protection
• Children Exposed to Violence and Rights Violations on a Daily Basis
• Increased Humanitarian Coordination Needed
• Gender-Based Impact of the Crisis

Following the meeting, Zohar took us to some key areas where Israelis have demolished Palestinian homes and expropriated land to build new Jewish-only settlements. Despite announced agreements otherwise, this practice continues to make the prospect of a two-state solution less possible.

The UN holds the West Bank and Gaza Strip together –– almost Single-Handedly!