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**Remember to include your full name and address**
Dear [name of elected representative]
I am writing as your constituent to ask you to take the quick urgent steps below to stop the imminent expulsion and forced transfer of over 1000 Palestinians – including 500 children – by the Israeli government in clear violation of international law.
As reported widely in the media, Israel’s High Court ruled in May 2022 that the largest expulsion and forced transfer of Palestinians to take place since the beginning of the Israeli military occupation of Palestine in 1967 can go ahead. The Israeli army announced on 2 January 2023 that the transfers will commence imminently. The UN and international, Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations have called this a grave violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a possible war crime.
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.
Your action is needed urgently and can make a difference. International pressure has led the Israeli government to reverse similar decisions in the past, including the forced transfer of the entire village of Khan Al Ahmer.
I ask that you take urgent action over the next few days. Please can you:
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Share the news of the planned expulsion and forced transfer with your colleagues and networks and speak out publicly against it. Follow and share the #SaveMasaferYatta and #DefendMasaferYatta hashtags.
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Write to the Taoiseach urgently asking him to make immediate representations to the Israeli government to halt the expulsion and forced transfer. Please also send your own representations to the Israeli Embassy.
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Write to the Department of Foreign Affairs urgently to ask that diplomats visit Masafer Yatta with other Heads of Missions as a public show of support to the communities. Visits in the past – and the international publicity they generated – were vital in halting similar planned forced transfers by the Israeli government.