Dear [name of elected representative],

I am writing as your constituent to urge you to take immediate action to prevent the imminent forced transfer of at least 1,200 Palestinians from Masafer Yatta, an area in occupied West Bank featured in the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land — an act in clear violation of international law.  

In recent months, Israeli authorities and settlers have intensified efforts to forcibly remove approximately 2,500 Palestinians from a cluster of villages in Masafer Yatta. In early May 2025, the Israeli military conducted the largest demolition in the area to date, razing most of the village of Khilet Al-Dabe’. (+972 Magazine)

Then, on 18 June, the Civil Administration’s Central Planning Bureau — the Israeli military body responsible for planning in the occupied West Bank — issued a sweeping directive rejecting all pending Palestinian building applications in Masafer Yatta, citing “military needs” in Firing Zone 918. The directive permits the army to turn these villages into a “sterile area” by “evacuating” all its Palestinian residents. (+972 Magazine)

This clears the way for the destruction of homes, schools, and vital infrastructure — and accelerates the threat of mass forced transfer of 12 communities within days or weeks. (Relief Web/OHCHR)

UN experts and humanitarian organisations have denounced this decision as a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention which may constitute a war crime and de facto ethnic cleansing (UN News; ReliefWeb/OCHA). 

After a decades-long fight to stay on their own land, the villagers of Masafer Yatta have now exhausted all legal avenues. Their only hope is for international pressure to persuade the Israeli government to stop this violation of international law from happening. 

I ask that you take urgent action over the next few days. Please: 

1. Write to the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs urging them to engage in advocacy with their Israeli counterparts to demand an immediate cessation of all policies and practices resulting in the forcible transfer of Palestinian communities in the West Bank, including the discriminatory regime of forced evictions and demolitions. 

2. Raise this issue in Parliament and call on the Irish Government to publicly oppose the strategic use of Israeli-declared “Firing Zones” to facilitate forced transfer and press the Israeli government to stop these crimes. 

3. Support all diplomatic, legal, and humanitarian measures to protect the residents of Masafer Yatta and ensure accountability for those responsible. 

Ireland must not remain silent in the face of such grave violations of international law. 

Thank you in advance for taking this urgent action. I look forward to hearing your response. 

Kind regards,

[your Full Name]

[ Your home address with Eircode]