[ot] Center for Jewish Nonviolence: Israel/Palestine

[Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyMHuemvjjb/?img_index=1
https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/email-congress-support-ceasefire/

We are grieving the hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis who have
been killed and our hearts are breaking for everyone living in fear
for their safety – including our own friends and family.

Israelis are scared and heartbroken as they are experiencing
horrifying attacks against their communities of a type and scale that
they have never lived through before. Tragically, we can not say the
same for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. For them, the
violence of Israel’s occupation and brutal siege – in which
Palestinians are killed, imprisoned, and denied their basic human
rights – is an everyday reality that generations have suffered.

As Israelis grieve and search for loved ones, Palestinians are facing
continued settler violence and lockdowns from the military. Many are
not able to leave to harvest fields, check on relatives, or collect
essentials. Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza live in an open air prison
without freedom of movement and have nowhere to seek refuge as Israel
bombs the area in collective punishment.

No one deserves this and none of this was inevitable. The root cause
of this violence is Israel’s decades-long oppression and displacement
of Palestinians. For years, Israel has sought to normalize this
reality, but there is nothing normal about this violence of
dehumanization and subjugation.

Israel has only been able to further its control over Palestinian life
and its annexation of Palestinian land under a system of apartheid
made possible by the complicity of governments around the world and
unconditional military support from the US.

Amid the many horrific images and stories we are seeing, hearing, and
living, one thing is clear – peace will not come until the occupation
ends and Palestinians are free. True safety is only possible when we
act in solidarity with one another. Now more than ever, it is our
responsibility as Jewish activists from around the world to continue
resisting, shoulder to shoulder with our Palestinian and Israeli
partners, for a just future where everyone lives with freedom and
dignity.