Progressive Group Statements
Updated 2024-04-06
Standing Together Our message is simple: There is another way. We have seen our country launch countless wars and military operations only to end up in the same position. Israel’s policy of attempting to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities every few years has only led to Hamas getting stronger. No military operation has ever produced lasting safety and security for Israelis – let alone for Palestinians. The occupation of the West Bank and the blockade on Gaza must end – not only because it is brutal and oppressive for Palestinians – but also because it does not guarantee any long-term safety for Israelis. We know that a negotiated peace agreement is the only way to ensure freedom, equality, and safety for both peoples. As a progressive grassroots movement, we are focused on building the political will in Israeli society to reach a political solution by building a mass movement of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel who truly believe that such a shared future is possible. We call for an urgent ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, to bring back the hostages and save the lives of innocent people in Gaza. https://www.standing-together.org/2023war
2023-10-31 ‘No Military Solution’: Carter Center Joins Call for Gaza Cease-Fire, Diplomatic Talks The Carter Center, founded by the only U.S. president to identify Israel’s violent policies in Palestine as apartheid, on Tuesday joined international calls for a cease-fire in Gaza as the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since October 7 reached at least 8,525.
The organization, which former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter established to fight for human rights worldwide, quoted the Democratic politician and humanitarian in its statement: “We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.”
“We urge all parties to agree to a cease-fire,” said the Carter Center. “We ask for the opening of humanitarian corridors into Gaza and the reinstatement of essential services to the area. We urge the immediate, safe return of all hostages, and we call on both sides to abide by international law.” The call for a cease-fire came as one United Nations official warned that the blockaded enclave of Gaza has devolved into a “graveyard” for children since Israel shut off access to fuel, electricity, water, and food and began launching repeated airstrikes in retaliation of Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7.
“Collective punishment is contrary to international law,” the organization continued. “So is the murder of civilians.”
Hamas on Saturday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to an exchange of the Israeli civilians taken hostage by the group when it launched its surprise attack, and the Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons; the family members of some Israeli hostages have also called for an “all for all” prisoner exchange.
But bolstered by the Biden administration and U.S. politicians including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Netanyahu has rejected calls for a cease-fire, which UNICEF on Tuesday said could save the lives of 1,000 children in Gaza in just 72 hours.
“The violence must stop now,” said the Carter Center. “There is no military solution to this crisis, only a political one that acknowledges the common humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians, respects the human rights of all, and creates a path for both societies to live side by side in peace.”https://www.commondreams.org/news/ceasefire
2023-10-09 Statement by United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Free Palestine! Resistance is justified when people are occupied!
The United National Antiwar Coalition stands firmly behind the people of Palestine as they resist over 75 years of brutal and illegal occupation by the Israelis. We call on people and organizations across the United States to take to the streets to support the cause of a free Palestine and to demand an end to all US military and economic aid to Israel.
While the mainstream media will tell people this war began with rockets from Hamas on October 7, 2023, we know that the Palestinian people have been living in a constant state of war since the Israeli state was conceived in 1948 when historic Palestine was divided to create the current Zionist, Apartheid state and hundreds of thousands of dispossessed Palestinians were driven off their lands into internal and external exile. Violence against Palestinians by Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) and settlers has increased under the new Netanyahu government. This constant violence and oppression against a people and the failure of nonviolent methods of holding the Israeli state accountable lead to one, logical outcome: resistance.
For over seven decades, the Palestinian people have been subjugated to not only theft and occupation of their land, but constant violence, arbitrary detention and dehumanization. In the West Bank, multiple checkpoints restrict their movements and access to medical resources. Palestinians are denied basic necessities such as clean water, and the people face violent raids by the Israeli Occupying Force and murderous Israeli settlers, who constantly encroach on Palestinian land.
Thousands of men, women, and children are locked inside of Israeli jails for years without charges or trials, Palestinians face legalized discrimination, and for two years in a row, the IOF and right-wing Israeli nationalists have attacked Palestinians worshiping at the Al Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian deaths.
The people of Gaza, in particular, have been subject to some of the worst living conditions and indiscriminate Israeli bombings. Within the 140 square mile Gaza Strip, the largest open-air prison in the world, two million people live trapped and vulnerable to unannounced Israeli strikes.Their human rights to water, food, electricity and movement are violated. According to the Euro-Med Monitor report, Pulling the Trigger is the First Resort, there was a “dramatic surge” in the number of Palestinians murdered in 2022 and more than 60% of those killed by the IOF were civilians who were not involved in any sort of conflict.
All of this violence perpetrated by the Israeli State is only possible with the political, financial, and military backing of the United States. Every year, the United States sends $3 billion in military aid to Israel, which is used to fund the occupation and constant bombardments of Palestinian territories. With that money, Israel also purchases equipment and technology from US weapons manufacturers. Israel is the largest recipient of US aid globally.
UNAC condemns US wars for occupation, greed and resources. We recognize that under international law, Palestinians have the legal right to resist the Israeli occupation. The present violence between Palestinians and Israelis represents a decades-long struggle by an oppressed people for liberation. UNAC’s second point of unity states:
“We support the right of all oppressed peoples, including colonized and formerly colonized countries, to determine their own road to liberation… We do not have to agree with a targeted country’s leaders in order to oppose U.S. aggression against that country. As political activists in the heart of the Empire, we have a responsibility to oppose U.S. imperialism. In the particular case of Palestine, we support the right of the Palestinian people to determine their own future and we oppose any U.S. aid to the colonial apartheid state of Israel.”
The Palestinian people demand and deserve freedom from Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and genocidal tactics. How they go about achieving victory in their struggle for liberation is for them to determine.
UNAC demands an end to all US military and economic aid to Israel. We call on all members to express their support for a free Palestine through solidarity actions. Please send us any pictures and descriptions of actions in your city, so that we may circulate them. Free Palestine!
UNACpeace.org https://socialistaction.org/2023/10/10/free-free-palestine-from-the-river-to-the-sea/
2023-10-08 A Statement from RootsAction on the Gaza-Israel War We condemn the attacks by Hamas deliberately targeting Israeli civilians for killing and kidnapping. And we condemn Israel’s aerial bombardment of Gaza, which is again killing large numbers of Palestinian civilians. We grieve for all the lives lost and for all those injured and traumatized.
The root of today’s violence is the oppression and abuses suffered daily by Palestinian people as a whole under decades of cruel Israeli occupation and expansionism. Leading human rights groups — from Amnesty International to Human Rights Watch to Israel’s B’Tselem — have concluded that Israel’s occupation policies amount to a form of apartheid. Until Israel’s military occupation is ended, these cycles of terror and war and trauma will repeat.
A huge obstacle to bringing an end to the Israeli occupation is the U.S. government. Under Democratic and Republican administrations, it has steadfastly made excuses for Israel as ever more Palestinian homes and villages have been destroyed or seized by right-wing settlers, as settlements have expanded, as Israeli soldiers have stormed Muslim holy sites, as Palestinian children have been militarily detained. And the violence from soldiers and extremist settlers toward Palestinians has worsened in the West Bank and East Jerusalem with the rise of the most openly racist, far-right government in Israel’s history.
We agree with Jewish Voice for Peace when it traces today’s bloodshed to U.S. complicity with Israel’s never-ending occupation: “The U.S. government consistently enables Israeli violence and bears blame for this moment. The unchecked military funding, diplomatic cover, and billions of dollars of private money flowing from the U.S. enables and empowers Israel’s apartheid regime. Those who continue calling for ‘ironclad’ U.S. support for the Israeli military are only paving the path to more violence.” https://rootsaction.org/news-a-views/3209–a-statement-from-rootsaction-on-the-gazaisrael-war
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