Dear Friends of Hope Flowers School,

Attached you will find background information on Hope Flowers School and a letter sent to my congressman, Rep. David Price. The latter gives you an update on the status of the November 2003 demolition order #107/02 on the cafeteria building at the base of the school property. The basis of this information was gained during my work in Jerusalem last April. Current updates reflect recent conversations with co-director Ibrahim Issa and with Meir Margolit (of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions), who is assisting in the legal proceedings with the lawyer, Eli Toussia-Cohen.

Your help is urgently needed in two ways:

1) By applying diplomatic pressure through government officials! This includes: representatives, senators, the U.S. State Department, and the Israeli consulates/embassy. In the State Department, the desk officer for Israeli-Palestinian affairs is Gregory D. LoGerfo (LoGerfoGD@state.gov), 202-647-2267. At the Israeli Embassy, Ambassador Ayalon’s assistant is Gershon Kedar, 202-364-5591.

2) By initiating a fundraising campaign.

--to support the educational program at Hope Flowers School

--to support the legal proceedings

A slide show with narrative is available to assist your efforts. Request at 919-967-5181 or contact@peace-with-justice.org.

3) For tax-deductible contributions:

Checks may be made payable to OCMEPF, (Orange County Middle East Peace Fund), P.O. Box 5891, Orange, CA 92863-5891

OR: Checks payable to: Binkley Baptist Church, c/o Coalition for Peace with Justice, P.O. Box 2081, Chapel Hill, NC 27515

There is HOPE at Hope Flowers School! Enrollment is up, and students and teachers are eager to begin the school year! Meanwhile, surveyor teams from the Israeli government have been in the area, presumably to map out the path of the separation barrier. We MUST do all we can to support this exemplary Palestinian program for peace education!

In solidarity, working for a just peace,

Mary Lou Leiser Smith

P.S. Please reply if you need the attachments in text form.