Help Save The Palestinian Villages in the South Hebron Hills For the past twenty years Israel

has been actively expelling and displacing the inhabitants of the South Hebron Hills villages. These villagers have always practiced a unique lifestyle: most of them are cave dwellers and find their livelihood in sheep- and goat herding and small crop farming. Over these years they have suffered unceasing harassment by the Israeli army and settlers. Their dwellings are repeatedly demolished, water cisterns ruined and sealed, and their crops destroyed. 1,000 people, adults and children - in eight villages of an area that in the 1980s was declared army firing zone no. 918 - are now threatened with immediate expulsion from their hamlets. They live in constant fear, helplessly facing a ruthless power that does everything to displace them from the home they have inhabited for centuries. Now their plight is up for a last review by Israels High Court of Justice. We call out to those who are still able to listen: We cannot bring peace today. But the least we can do is to expose and condemn small local outrages. In a reality of ongoing occupation, of solid cynicism and meanness, each and every one of us bears the moral obligation to try and relieve the suffering, do something to bend back the occupations giant, cruel hand. In a place where there are no worthy people, strive to be a worthy person (Pirkei Avot -Ethics of the fathers). Should we not do even this very little? Signed by: Shimon Adaf Nir Baram Assaf Gavron David Grossman

Alon Hilu Yoram Kaniuk, zl Sayed Kashua Yehoshua Kenaz Etgar Keret Alona Kimhi Salman Masalha Ronit Matalon Eyal Megged Sami Michael Agi Mishol Salman Natour Amos Oz Haviva Pedaya Dorit Rabinyan Meir Shalev Zeruya Shalev Joshua Sobol A.B. Yehoshua Nathan Zach