Take Action to Support Palestinian Human Rights
We call on our representatives in congress to support H.R. 2590: Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.
H.R. 2590 was introduced by Congresswoman Betty McCollum(D-MN) and currently has 32 co-sponsors including our local representatives Representatives Barbara Lee, Jackie Speier, Jerry McNerney, Jared Huffman and Mark DeSaulnier, and endorsed by over 170 civil society organizations. This bill seeks to ensure that U.S. taxpayer funds are not used by the Israeli government for 1) the military detention of Palestinian children; 2) the demolition of Palestinian homes and property; and 3) to further annex Palestinian land, in violation of international law.
It is incumbent upon Congress to take responsibility for how $3.8 billion of our tax dollars a year are used to further human right violations. Holding Israel accountable for its use of U.S. aid is long overdue. In recent reports, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International state that Israel is committing “crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution” against Palestinians, echoing the voices of Palestinian civil society. These reports outline the disturbing and systematic human rights violations committed by the Israeli government, including sweeping restrictions on freedom of movement targeting Palestinians in the occupied territories; the demolition of homes and “near-categorical denial” of building permits; de facto permanent military occupation; land expropriation; and the systematic rejection of residency rights of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Every year, Israel detains and prosecutes 500-700 Palestinian children in the military system. The majority of these children were taken from their homes at night, blindfolded and subjected to physical violence. These figures were gathered by Defense for Children International–Palestine.
In 2021, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented the Israeli government's demolition of over 900 Palestinian homes and structures, displacing nearly 1,200 Palestinian people. At the same time, extremist Israeli settlers continue their efforts to displace 28 Palestinian families—approximately 500 people—in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. As Israeli settlers take over more land in the West Bank, Palestinians are hemmed into small “bantustan-like” areas. 572 checkpoints and road barriers separate villages from each other, farmers from their lands, family members from each other.
The tiny village of Wadi Foquin is a microcosm of this systemic reality. Located in the Bethlehem District of the West Bank, the village is subjected to land expropriation and property demolition orders to construct a road which would expand the settlement transportation infrastructure shaping the “bantustan like”conditions. Just recently, between our Christmas and New Year holidays, Israeli authorities entered the village and demolished 45 olive trees belonging to local farmers.
Despite the much needless suffering, the tide is turning toward justice for Palestinians. Join us. Call on your representatives to join the move for racial justice, in Palestine, in the United States, and everywhere.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2590/cosponsors
https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Full-Report.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2590/text
To endorse this call to action, email info@araborganizing.org.
