As Americans we share responsibility for the devastating killing in Israel and Palestine. The US has refused to enforce its stated commitment to two self-governing states, Israel and Palestine. The US funds the state of Israel while Israel increases its occupation of Palestinian people, land, water, cultural sites, and freedoms. The United States gives more military aid to Israel than it gives to all other countries combined. The US has failed the people of Israel and Palestine by funding military security above the mutual security of interconnected peoples.
We support RCNV friends to stay engaged, demonstrate, link together, and take action. We have to build movements to change US policy for justice, peace, and liberation in Israel/Palestine. See the RCNV statement linked here.
RCNV offers the following analyses, reports, and statements we gathered since October 7, as resources for your learning and action.
Historic and Political context:
“Beyond Moral Condemnation” article in the Boston Review, published October 11, gives a short history from 1917, and since 1948, and developments before October 7, and looking forward. https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/beyond-moral-condemnation/
Daily Flash Reports are reliable from OCHA, United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory. Subscribe at this link.
Humanitarian aid. Among many agencies, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund has been in Gaza for 30 years. Find it at pcrf.net. The New Israel Fund is a human rights-based aid society supporting impacted Israelis. See it at nif.org.
BDS—Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign initiated by Palestinians, joined by many US organizations. Companies that enforce the occupation, many are American companies. https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide
Historians for Peace and Democracy collection of clips from several authorities. H-PAD states: “we believe these voices can help inform our efforts to demand an immediate ceasefire to prevent the further escalation of the U.S.-backed Israeli war in Gaza, while also addressing the root causes of the violence, supporting non-terrorist means of resistance to the occupation, and forging a future in which Palestinians and Jews can both live with dignity and security.” Access the link here.
Mubarak Awad, President of Nonviolence International, friend of RCNV: “7 Steps to End the Cycle of Violence in Israel and Palestine.” Mubarak Awad helped launch the 1st intifada and was exiled from Jerusalem by the Israeli government in 1988. He was Founder of the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence, Founder of the National Youth Advocate Program and Founder and current President of Nonviolence International. Link to short piece here.
Ta-Nehisi Coats, Black antiracist author, recognizes the situation in Israel/Palestine when he visits Hebron, and applies the standard of Nonviolence. Watch it and other interviews on Democracy Now.
A Very Brief Guide to Antisemitism from T’ruah, the rabbinic call for human rights. This link invites you to download the pamphlet: https://truah.org/antisemitism/ There is no charge. Read the whole pamphlet. Near the end is a list of actions that are not antisemitism, referencing the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, the Nexus Document, and T’ruah’s definitions. One example of Not antisemitism: “Support for arrangements that accord full equality to all Israelis and Palestinians, whether in two states, one state, a binational state, a confederation, or any other form.”
Palestine Legal Open Letter: “Hundreds of Legal Community Members Demand Action to Stop Racist Targeting of Palestinian Advocates and Safeguard Fundamental Rights.” Here is the link.
An open letter from T’ruah, the rabbinic call for human rights, cosigned by 750 rabbis and cantors. Here is the link.
Peter Beinart: “There is a Jewish Hope for Palestinian Liberation. It Must Survive.” Long article addresses nonviolent and violent efforts for Palestinian liberation: “As Palestinians lost faith that cooperation with Israel could end the occupation, many appealed to the world to hold Israel accountable for its violation of their rights. In response, both Democratic and Republican presidents have worked diligently to ensure that these nonviolent efforts fail.” Link to his October 14 New York Times Guest Essay here.
Human Rights groups on the ground: Palestinian: Al Haq (https://www.alhaq.org/). Israeli: B’Tselem (https://www.btselem.org/ )
“All people deserve to live in safety and peace. The only way to achieve that is freedom and justice for all. In Palestine, that means an end to Israel’s colonial occupation and apartheid regime — which no person would accept for their own people.” Anna Balzer, Jewish American activist and author of A Witness in Palestine.