Over 50 Reps Call for Hamas-Israel Ceasefire! Thank YOUR Rep Today!

Dear Friend of Brit Tzedek,

As President Bush goes from one photo-op to another in his Mideast tour and rockets hit Ashkelon again this week, over 50 Members of Congress have demanded real solutions to end the violence: a Hamas-Israel ceasefire, an end to the Gaza blockade, and a genuine Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Thanks to YOUR phone calls, 52 Members of Congress signed on to the Price-LaHood letter to President Bush calling on him to reinvigorate Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and find real solutions to the crisis in Gaza and southern Israel! If your Rep. signed, please thank him/her today!

You can also thank your Representative in person, or ask them directly why they didn't sign on, by joining Brit Tzedek in Washington, DC for our National Advocacy Days 2008, June 21-24!

The Price-LaHood letter represents the first comprehensive, pro-peace Congressional initiative to address the ongoing violence in Gaza and southern Israel and its devastating impact on the progress of peace talks. The letter proposes serious solutions to end the violence and maintain progress on negotiations, including condemnation of rocket attacks on Israel, ending the blockade on Gaza, addressing the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, and exploring a Hamas-Israel ceasefire.

The letter recognizes that "without such solutions, popular support for the peace process among both Israelis and Palestinians will suffer, and moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank... will be threatened."

The Price-LaHood letter is the latest among a series of successful constructive, pro-Israel, pro-peace efforts that Brit Tzedek and our allies have supported from the Feinstein-Lugar resolution (37 Senate cosponsors) of last summer to the Ackerman-Boustany letter (135 House signers) supporting the Annapolis peace conference in November. Though somewhat smaller in total signers, the Price-LaHood letter contains the most serious and specific recommendations on how to deal with the crisis ever seen in a Congressional initiative and has opened up a critically important conversation in Congress about Gaza and Hamas.

You can help us keep up this momentum! If your Rep. signed [view signer list], please thank him or her today!

Or join us in DC and do it in person!

L'shalom,

Sue Swartz, Chair of Advocacy
Rob Levy, Washington Representative