If Americans Knew published their yearly appeal to help the Palestinians of Bethlehem survive the assault of Israeli colonialism in the West Bank, in particular, the use of a 25 foot Wall to separate Bethlehem from the surrounding colonies of Israeli settlers. Like Qalqilia, a Palestinian city of 25,000, which is totally surrounded on all sides by the Wall (manned by towers and checkpoints in and out), Bethlehem is also surrounded on all sides, as seen in the map above.
Front of this year’s card.
The Text on the Back of this card reads:
The people of Bethlehem are asking for our help.
Towering walls and militarized fences now encircle Bethlehem, turning the 4,000-year-old city into a virtual prison for its Palestinian Christian and Muslim citizens. Bethlehem has only three gates to the outside world, all tightly controlled by Israeli occupation forces.
Israel has confiscated almost all the agricultural land in the area for illegal settlements, making it impossible for many Palestinian farmers to continue tending their land. Outside the town, the fields where shepherds once watched their flocks are being filled by Israeli housing blocs and roads barred to the descendants of those shepherds.
“It is unconscionable that Bethlehem should be allowed to die slowly from strangulation,” says South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Bethlehem’s residents increasingly are fleeing Israel’s confining walls, and soon the city, home to the oldest Christian community in the world, will have little left of its Christian history but the cold stones of empty churches.
Though most Americans don’t know it, we are directly involved in Israel’s strangulation of Bethlehem. Fortune Magazine and other analysts consistently rank the Israel lobby as one of the most effective special interests in Washington; Americans give Israel about $7 million per day. In its just over 60 years of existence, Israel has received more US tax money than any other nation.
As we seek peace and joy for the world, it is time to reconsider an expenditure that perpetuates injustice, tragic violence, and conflict. Please help.
Anyone interested in purchasing these inexpensive cards, click HERE.
