Brit Tzedek v'Shalom
Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace
FOR RELEASE ON APRIL 30th, 2002
CONTACT:
Marcia Freedman, info@btvshalom.org
Clare Kinberg, info@btvshalom.org
AMERICAN JEWS RALLY IN NATION'S CAPITAL TO FORM NEW PRO-ISRAEL, ANTI-OCCUPATION ORGANIZATION
Nearly 200 American Jewish community leaders from throughout the United States gathered this weekend in the nation's capital to launch a national organization dedicated to healing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This historic development was prompted by the recent attacks by Palestinians on Israelis and by the Israeli invasion of the West Bank.
The new organization, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace (Brit Tzedek v'Shalom) calls for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, evacuation of Israeli settlements in occupied territories, and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel based on the 1967 borders. The organization's mission is to provide a voice within the American Jewish community for the many people who support these positions and to lobby Congress and the White House.
Following the conference, an Alliance team visited Congress to oppose the "Arafat Accountability Act" (S. 2194) and the DeLay initiative (H.R. 392), which express solidarity with Israel's strong-arm tactics.
"We are committed to Israel's long term security, which can only be achieved through peace and justice," explained the new organization's board member Clare Kinberg, editor of the Jewish feminist magazine Bridges. "Unquestioning support for the policies and actions of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon only impedes the quest for a peaceful resolution of the conflict."
Former Israeli parliament member Marcia Freedman, another board member, believes that the new organization represents the vast silent majority of American Jewry, which objects to the actions of the current Israeli government but supports Israel.
Former Israeli Minister of Education and Israel Prize winner Shulamit Aloni was the conference's keynote speaker. "Now is the time to speak up in dissent," she told the gathering, "it is not the time to be blindly patriotic. Israel's moral and political future is in grave danger."