CWL voices concern over possibility of Israeli government re-routing security border through Cremisan Valley
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[gview file=”https://www.cwl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Cremisan-Valley-letters-release-October-2013-1.pdf” height=”700px” width=”850px” save=”1″]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – The Catholic Women’s League of Canada, with over 91,000 members across the
country, has voiced written concern at the possibility of the Israeli government re-routing the security barrier through the Cremisan Valley in Palestine.
Two letters, addressed to Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird and to Miriam Ziv, ambassador of Israel to Canada, urge the Canadian and Israeli governments to do anything possible to aid the over 50 Christian Palestinian families who will be separated from their farms and religious communities as a result of the re-routed security barrier.
The barrier would annex three-quarters of the Roman Catholic convent in the Cremisan Valley and split it from the neighbouring monastery of the same Salesian order. Children would be forced to cross an
Israeli checkpoint to attend elementary school. An agricultural gate would provide limited access to landowners and several Palestinian villages would be separated from Bethlehem by the barrier.
“The barrier will not help Israel’s valid security needs but will damage an already weak Christian community in the Middle East,” National President Betty Anne Brown Davidson writes.
The letters can be viewed online at www.cwl.ca.
About the Catholic Women’s League of Canada
The Catholic Women’s League of Canada , founded in 1920, is one of the largest organizations of women in Canada with in excess of 91,000 members represented in every province and territory and in the military. The League is organized and pledged to serve all citizens and has often received the commendation and keen appreciation of federal, provincial and municipal authorities for the voluntary services ably performed by its nationwide membership.
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