AJJP Endorses U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Fri, 2010-07-23

Responding to the call of Palestinian civil society to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement against Israel, AJJP joins a U.S. campaign focused specifically on a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, as delineated by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

Responding to the call of Palestinian civil society to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement against Israel, AJJP joins a U.S. campaign focused specifically on a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, as delineated by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

PACBI states:

"In light of Israel’s persistent violations of international law, and Given that, since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel's colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and called for immediate, adequate and effective remedies, and Given that all forms of international intervention and peace-making have until now failed to convince or force Israel to comply with humanitarian law, to respect fundamental human rights and to end its occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine, and In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international community have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions;

"Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and in the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression, We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era."

For more information: http://www.pacbi.org/campaign_statement.htm

AJJP Supports Arizona Boycott, Endorses Letter by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Fri, 2010-07-23

American Jews for a Just Peace supports the Boycott of Arizona called for by the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. The struggle against Arizona’s recent legislation, SB 1070 and SB 2281, has a global context which links it to the struggle for justice in Palestine and the call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. In this spirit, American Jews for a Just Peace endorses the open letter by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

To read the Letter in full, click here.

American Jews for a Just Peace supports the Boycott of Arizona called for by the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. The struggle against Arizona’s recent legislation, SB 1070 and SB 2281, has a global context which links it to the struggle for justice in Palestine and the call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. In this spirit, American Jews for a Just Peace endorses the open letter by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

To read the Letter in full, click here.

American Jews for a Just Peace to Co-Sponsor Jewish Boat to Gaza
Mon, 2010-06-14

American Jews for a Just Peace (AJJP) has agreed to serve as the U.S. coordinator for the Jewish Boat to Gaza, its organizers have announced. The boat, sponsored by a coalition of international Jewish organizations dedicated to peace with justice in Israel/Palestine, is scheduled to sail from an undisclosed location in the Mediterranean this July. It will head toward Gaza in an effort to break the siege imposed by Israel in 2006. The passengers will include Jews from Germany, the U.K., and the United States, including at least one survivor of the Nazi Holocaust.

American Jews for a Just Peace (AJJP) has agreed to serve as the U.S. coordinator for the Jewish Boat to Gaza, its organizers have announced. The boat, sponsored by a coalition of international Jewish organizations dedicated to peace with justice in Israel/Palestine, is scheduled to sail from an undisclosed location in the Mediterranean this July. It will head toward Gaza in an effort to break the siege imposed by Israel in 2006. The passengers will include Jews from Germany, the U.K., and the United States, including at least one survivor of the Nazi Holocaust.

In a statement released today, AJJP said that it is joining with Jüdische Stimme (Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Near East) and the British group Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JfJfP) in sponsoring the boat as a call to the leaders of the world, to "help Israel find her way to reason, to a sense of humanity and a life without fear." An April 2, 2010 report by Amnesty International noted, "Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip leaves more than 1.4 million Palestinians cut off from necessary and life-saving supplies, exacerbating a situation of extreme and desperate poverty."

This trip will be the latest in a series of civilian efforts to break the blockade. On May 31, a Freedom Flotilla of ten ships carrying passengers from 37 countries was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli Defense Forces. At least nine civilians were killed aboard the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara. Israel has rejected calls for a neutral investigation of the incident by the international community.

The Jewish Boat's captain, Glyn Secker, is a British Jew who has been active in the movement for freedom and justice in Palestine for many years. Secker confirmed that the boat will carry school bags and books, donated by German schoolchildren, musical instruments, and art materials, as well as essential medicines and small medical equipment. Absolutely no weapons will be on board, and all participants will be trained in the principles of non-violence. Organizers are requesting that the Israeli government and the Obama Administration guarantee safe passage for the boat, its passengers and cargo.

Further information and an opportunity to support the Jewish Boat to Gaza are available on the website of American Jews for a Just Peace, www.ajjp.org/jewishboat.

Opposition To Obama/Clinton Statement on Settlements
Mon, 2009-11-02

American Jews for a Just Peace strongly opposes yesterday's statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulating Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on his alleged agreement to limit settlement expansion. This is a direct change in the United States' call for a total freeze of all Israeli settlement activity, including "natural growth," as expressed in President Obama's Cairo speech on June 4, 2009. All such settlement building is in direct and undeniable violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. AJJP will continue to press for a just and sustainable resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, and for full Israeli compliance with international law.

American Jews for a Just Peace strongly opposes yesterday's statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulating Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on his alleged agreement to limit settlement expansion. This is a direct change in the United States' call for a total freeze of all Israeli settlement activity, including "natural growth," as expressed in President Obama's Cairo speech on June 4, 2009. All such settlement building is in direct and undeniable violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. AJJP will continue to press for a just and sustainable resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, and for full Israeli compliance with international law.

Call to Action Against Israel’s War on Palestine
Fri, 2009-01-30

American Jews for a Just Peace (AJJP) is an alliance of progressive and predominantly Jewish activists in the United States working to ensure equal rights, safety, and dignity for all the people of historic Palestine. We believe that the illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem must end immediately, and that a just peace requires the international community to honor the national aspirations and human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian Territories, within Israel, and in the Diaspora, as defined by international law and recognized principles of human rights.

American Jews for a Just Peace (AJJP) is an alliance of progressive and predominantly Jewish activists in the United States working to ensure equal rights, safety, and dignity for all the people of historic Palestine. We believe that the illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem must end immediately, and that a just peace requires the international community to honor the national aspirations and human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian Territories, within Israel, and in the Diaspora, as defined by international law and recognized principles of human rights.

Israel's recent War on Gaza resulted in worldwide, popular condemnation. Perhaps this marks an important turning point in the relationship between Israel and the world community. We will not stand by while Israel instigates a war, annihilates civilian infrastructure, targets civilian shelters, blocks medical teams from reaching victims, uses chemical weapons, such as white phosphorous, on civilians, prevents medical equipment from entering the war zone, cuts off fuel, electricity and running water, and forcibly prevents civilians including children from escaping their carnage. These are only the latest in a long and shameful history of violent, illegal and immoral actions taken by the government of Israel against the Palestinian people over the last 61 years. They are not the actions of a state that respects international laws or norms. On the contrary, they represent the actions of a rogue state that flouts international law while justifying its atrocities by invoking the suffering of our forebears.

These atrocities have been fully supported by the U.S. government, which, in this last war, ran diplomatic interference for Israel. This allowed Israel to destroy as much of Gazan society as it could before the new U.S. administration took office.

In the wake of this illegal war, AJJP expresses our outrage and pledges to support all efforts that are aimed at ending Israel's Occupation and undoing the apartheid system that it has constructed. The ongoing illegal occupation and ever-expanding illegal settlements of now some 450,000 Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is a clear violation of the 4th Geneva Convention. This Occupation is an obstacle to peace, as is the apartheid system of separation and oppression that is the organizing structure of life and resources in Israel/Palestine. U.S. tax dollars and foreign policy goals continue to support what is fundamentally an undemocratic and racist system of government that serves to sustain and deepen the ongoing ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine.

For all of these reasons, as Jews of conscience, we reach out to all other activists in the United States and around the world to work together to end, once and for all, these atrocities, which Israel claims to commit in our names.

Dedicated to working with all like-minded groups to build an effective, worldwide movement, American Jews for a Just Peace calls for:

  • immediate suspension of all U.S. military aid to Israel pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act;
  • the U.S. Congress to open an investigation into possible war crimes as well as violations of the Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts in the war on Gaza;
  • businesses and individuals to refuse to purchase Israeli-made products that originate in or support Jewish settlements in Occupied Palestine and the apartheid system of racial separation and oppression in Israel/Palestine;
  • the Israeli government to sign the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid that was adopted by the United Nations in 1973, or explain its refusal to do so to the world community;
  • the Israeli government to sign the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid that was adopted by the United Nations in 1973, or explain its refusal to do so to the world community;
  • efforts by all activists to promote awareness of and resistance to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, which continues through the ongoing blockade, siege, displacement, annexation, and Israeli state-sponsored terror.

Toward these ends, AJJP calls on the human rights and global justice community to engage in coordinated actions to bring the apartheid policies and criminal activities of the Israeli government to an end. We support all strategies, up to and including, acts of non-violent civil disobedience. We will continue to support Palestinian civil society groups. AJJP activists will sponsor teach-ins, write op-ed articles, engage in viral outreach campaigns, ask businesses and individuals to join our boycott, visit our legislators, contact U.S. officials, place paid advertisements, sponsor public demonstrations and vigils, show films, present speakers and exhibits and poetry readings and street theater, and otherwise pledge to be widely and creatively visible and vocal in building the international movement for justice and peace in Israel/Palestine.

Call to Stop the Bombing in Gaza
Sun, 2008-12-28

Yesterday's attacks by the Israeli Air Force in Gaza City—the most densely populated piece of land on the face of the earth—indiscriminately destroyed medical and governmental buildings, homes, and other civilian infrastructure. By this morning, about 300 Palestinians, many of whom were women, children, and civil police and traffic officers (so-called Hamas “security forces”) were killed and at least 900 injured. We and many others around the world are concerned about reports from Israel that these attacks may be only the opening fanfare of a sustained military campaign that will, inevitably, create even more casualties for an already besieged people.

Yesterday's attacks by the Israeli Air Force in Gaza City—the most densely populated piece of land on the face of the earth—indiscriminately destroyed medical and governmental buildings, homes, and other civilian infrastructure. By this morning, about 300 Palestinians, many of whom were women, children, and civil police and traffic officers (so-called Hamas “security forces”) were killed and at least 900 injured. We and many others around the world are concerned about reports from Israel that these attacks may be only the opening fanfare of a sustained military campaign that will, inevitably, create even more casualties for an already besieged people.

American Jews for a Just Peace strongly condemns the Israeli invasion of Gaza, as a cruel and barbarous attack upon a captive civilian population. Israel justifies its attack as a defensive response to Hamas rockets fired into Israel. While the firing of Hamas rockets into civilian areas is not a justifiable response, the reality is that those rocket attacks were provoked by Israel’s own violation of the cease-fire in early November, before it expired, when Israel mounted a series of unprovoked attacks against Gaza that killed six Palestinians. But the Hamas rockets were also the desperately frustrated response to Israel’s sustained and unlawful blockade of nearly all food, medicines, fuel, and other essential supplies to the full civilian population of Gaza since the election of a Hamas government there in 2006. The people of Gaza have already been reduced to living in the dark, without heat and on a bare subsistence diet as consequences of the Israeli blockade.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has been feeding 750,000 Gazans who can no longer feed themselves. UNRWA reports that it ran out of food on December 18, 2008 as a consequence of Israel’s blockade and was forced to suspend all emergency and regular food aid. Three quarters of a million people now face starvation. Notably, last week Israel expelled an observer sent by the U.N. to assess the situation and has barred journalists from entering Gaza to report events based on their own neutral observance of them.

As American Jews, we are compelled to oppose these violations of widely held and agreed upon rules of ethical conduct by Israel—and by the U.S., in complicity with it. The inhumanity and cruelty of Israel’s violently excessive assaults against Gaza are an affront to the long-cherished Jewish commitment to basic principles of justice and humaneness. As American citizens, we call upon President Elect Obama to push publicly for the immedate cessation of bombing and reinstatement of the cease-fire pending resumption of fairly moderated peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.