2 Jewish Congress members urge Israel not to demolish Palestinian villages
In letter circulated to colleagues, Democrats Yarmuth and Schakowsky say demolitions would ‘run counter to shared US and Israeli values’
WASHINGTON — Two Jewish Democrats in the US House of Representatives are circulating a letter among their colleagues that would urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the planned demolition of Palestinian villages.
“The destruction and displacement of such communities would run counter to shared US and Israeli values, while further undermining long-term Israeli security, Palestinian dignity, and the prospects for peacefully achieving two states for two peoples,” says the letter co-authored by Representatives John Yarmuth of Kentucky and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois. “Instead of forcibly evicting Palestinian communities, we encourage your government to fairly re-evaluate their requests for building rights.”
Yarmuth and Schakowsky sent the letter to their colleagues on Thursday seeking additional signatures.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has said Israel plans to demolish a large part of Susya, a small village near Hebron, because building there was unauthorized. The letter mentions plans to demolish “other similarly situated Palestinian communities in the West Bank.”
It says the demolitions are especially egregious in light of Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank.
“The forcible eviction of Palestinian communities and the expansion of settlements in areas of the West Bank, which would become part of a future Palestinian state, abandon our two countries’ shared values of justice and respect for human rights,” the letter says.
“These actions unilaterally change facts on the ground and jeopardize the prospects of a two-state solution. This endangers Israel’s future as a Jewish democracy and prohibitively impacts Palestinian’s national aspirations.”
The letter is similar to one sent last year to Netanyahu by 10 senators, all Democrats. It also was spearheaded by two Jewish senators in the Democratic caucus: California Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.
