The Fields of Bethlehem are Sown with Landmines!
Roots of Peace Announces First-Ever Consensus on LAND with Israel/Palestine
Over 1.5 million LANDmines will be Removed from The Holy Lands by 2025

February 9, 2012—San Rafael, California—Roots of Peace, a Marin County-based charity, has announced a “first-ever” consensus on LAND by Israeli’s and Palestinians on removing an estimated 1.5 million LAND mines in Israel and West Bank. A Press Conference will be held at Marin TV, 819 A Street, San Rafael, California at 8:30am/PST. There will be a LIVE SKYPE call between Roots of Peace/USA and Israel and Palestine to announce the DEMINE, REPLANT, REBUILD model to be implemented in the Middle-East. MEDIA/PRESS is invited.

Heidi Kuhn, Founder & CEO, Roots of Peace, just returned from a humanitarian mission to Israel/West Bank for the past 40 days and 40 nights. During this time, she met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel; President Mahmoud Abbas; Yassar Abed Rabbo, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Authority, The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal; Greek Partiarch Theopholis III of Jerusalem; along with Imans and Rabbis.

With full support from the Israeli National Mine Action Authority (INMAA) and the Palestinian Authority, Roots of Peace will be the first organization to historically remove landmines in The Fields of Bethlehem during the Spring 2012. “The Holy Lands are not 'holy' when there are landmines in the ground,“ stated Heidi Kuhn.

This newest Roots of Peace project, in the Middle East, was inspired by young Daniel Yuval, age 13, Roots of Peace Youth Ambassador, who stepped on a landmine while playing in a rare snowfall in the Golan Heights with his family on February 6, 2010. Working with Daniel, Heidi helped to bring forth unanimous Mine Action legislation at The Knesset on March 14, 2011, paving the way towards a larger vision to DEMINE~REPLANT~REBUILD™ in Qasr al-Yahud, The Baptismal Site of Jesus, The Fields of Bethlehem, and the Jordan River Valley by the year 2025. “The Roots of Peace campaign will cost an estimated ½ billion U.S. dollars and will be completed within our lifetime,” stated Heidi. “By planting the Roots of Peace in the Middle East, we are focused on changing the world in a real way.”

Social media is the current conduit of change throughout the world, but especially in the Middle East. “Today, we pledge to bring our message home to the San Francisco Bay Area companies in the forefront of developing social media platforms, games and applications who embrace the principles of The Hacker Way—Focus on Impact, Move Fast, Be Bold, Be Open, Build Lasting Social Value,” says Christian Kuhn, age 16, who joined his mother, Heidi, during the past two years in both Israel and West Bank. Youth grew up in a digital age where texting, the web and social media are integral to daily life and central to communications.

Roots of Peace will partner with Marin TV and Roundhouse Media in San Rafael to announce a new partnership engaging youth to submit videos, interviews, images, art and music telling the story of hope and change of a renewed world without landmines. “Roots of Peace embarks upon announcing a World Spring full of hope by planting from the bottom up,” stated John McLeod, CEO, Marin TV and Roundtable Media.

At tomorrow’s Press event, Dave Jenkins (lead-singer Pablo Cruise), Jaime Kyle (Atlantic recording artist), and guitarist, Tal Morris (formerly with Creedence Clearwater Revival and Huey Lewis), will release their new song, “Grace,” written and dedicated to Roots of Peace in honor of the West Bank-Israel Demine-Replant-Rebuild™ project.

MISSION STATEMENT: Roots of Peace is an international humanitarian organization working to unearth dangerous landmines in war-torn countries and to empower local communities scarred by these indiscriminate weapons. The Roots of Peace Demine~Replant~Rebuild™ model has been implemented in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Iraq, Vietnam, and now the West Bank-Israel, transforming the scars of conflict into the Roots of Peace. For more information visit us at www.rootsofpeace.org

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PM Benjamin Netanyahu, January 23, 2012, Tel Aviv, Israel, Heidi Kuhn, Daniel Yuval

Shepherd in The Fields of Bethlehem
“Landmine Victims may not tend to their sheep”