Largest tract of land ever confiscated in history of Hebron District to take place 19 July 2005. Two military orders, T/06/05, and T/93/05 issued on 28 June 2005, if carried out, will confiscate the farmland of fifty Palestinian families (500 people) living in the village of Tarqumiya in the Hebron district. The order stipulates that Israel will confiscate ninety-seven dunums for building the Security Barrier/Annexation wall, but in actuality the military will also confiscate 500 dunums (125 acres) behind the fence. This tract is the largest amount of land ever confiscated in the history of the Hebron District. Telem, an Israeli settlement in the southwest corner of the West Bank, will expand onto the land, currently growing olives, grapes, and field vegetables. The land confiscation will take away income of fifty families. The military gave the families a deadline of 19 July 2005 to respond. A final court decision will occur on that day. Israeli authorities claim that they will build gates in the new wall so that farmers can go onto their land. However, the Israeli government, in other previous land confiscations, did not build the gates it promised. Instead, it issued permits farmers for two weeks and then discontinued them. World attention is focused on settler removal from the Gaza Strip, allowing land confiscation by the Israeli government in the West Bank to move ahead, unchallenged. The Hebron team's prior Urgent Action in April asked people to protest a military confiscation order for Beit Ummar farmland that went unchallenged by members of congress. Seventy-four families in Beit Ummar lost their land. Please contact your Senators or Members of Parliament to urge them to call for a stop to this confiscation within the next week, noting the 19 July 2005 deadline. Ask them to contact the Foreign Ministry (Canada and U.K), State Department (U.S.) and the Israeli Government to express their opposition to the largest land confiscation in the history of the Hebron District. Because of the 19 July 2005 deadline, CPT is asking its constituents to phone or fax their legislators rather than write letters. If you asked your legislator to challenge the confiscation of Beit Ummar land, mention that in the fax/phone call. Note that confiscating Palestinian land for the expansion of Israeli settlements is at the root of most of the violence in Israel and Palestine. All members of the US Congress: 202-224-3121, For fax numbers, go to: http://congress.org and enter your zip code.