[ ]J Street [ ]
Friend --

This week, flanked by dozens of police, Israeli government bulldozers
demolished a Palestinian-owned butcher store in the East Jerusalem
neighborhood of Silwan. Security forces used teargas and batons as
tensions with residents, activists and protestors reached a breaking
point.

[1]Images of demolitions and protests in Silwan

This is about more than just one business. Dozens more families and
business-owners in Silwan and other East Jerusalem neighborhoods -- who
have fought against these demolitions for years with the backing of
Palestinian, progressive Israelis and international supporters -- face the
looming threat of demolition orders and dispossession in the coming
months.

After a ceasefire brought a halt to the intensive fighting between Israel
and Hamas, the world’s attention may have gone elsewhere. But these are
the daily injustices that fuel resentment, retaliation, violence and
conflict -- and which supporters of a just, democratic and secure Israel
cannot ignore.

Our pro-Israel, pro-peace movement is continuing to press Congress and the
Biden administration to address the root causes which fuel this conflict
-- and to speak out firmly on the side of justice, equality and human
rights. This must include strong pushback against the injustice and
systematic dispossession that Palestinians continue to experience in East
Jerusalem.

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Just last week, a large group of House Democrats led by Reps. Gerry
Connolly, Peter Welch and Jan Schakowsky released a letter to President
Biden seeking a full reversal of President Trump’s damaging policies on
Israel-Palestine -- as well as a commitment to the “civil and political
rights, safety, and self-determination of both peoples.”

The letter, which J Street supported, also urges the administration to:

* Strongly oppose the forced eviction of Palestinian families from their
homes in East Jerusalem and throughout occupied Palestinian territory;
* Reaffirm that the United States considers the construction of
settlements on occupied territory to be a violation of international
law;
* Ensure that all congressionally appropriated aid to Palestinians is
disbursed urgently; and
* Leverage all possible channels to deter Hamas from further rocket
attacks.

With new leadership in Israel and the United States, we must seize this
moment to ensure our values and our priorities are at the forefront. We
cannot afford to let the conversation about Israel/Palestine be dominated
by right-wing extremists or those who seek to defend this unjust,
unsustainable and bloody status quo.

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In conversations in our own communities as well, we have to be clear about
this: What is happening in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah right now is part of a
discriminatory project which has weaponized planning laws to force
Palestinians from their land, claim the area for Jewish settlers and
prevent Palestinians from achieving equality and self-determination
through a two-state solution.

This is not a good-faith zoning issue or a ‘real estate dispute’ -- it is
systemic injustice and illegality. It serves only to fuel the cycle of
injustice, violence and retaliation at the heart of this conflict, which
just a few months ago escalated into a conflagration that left dozens of
Palestinian and Israeli families grieving unimaginable, intolerable loss.

Thank you, sincerely, for your ongoing support.

Yours,

Debra Shushan
Director of Government Affairs


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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans who want
Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the Jewish people.
Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we advocate policies that
advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish and democratic values,
leading to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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