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.
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.
If you feel able, please consider a matched donation of $28 -- or any other amount -- to help sustain J Street’s work and close our mid-year fundraising shortfall before tomorrow’s deadline >>
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
