Brit Tzedek v'Shalom

Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: AUGUST 10, 2002

CONTACT:
Aliza Becker: azbecker@mindspring.com

BRING THE SETTLERS HOME

NEW NATIONAL ORGANIZATION CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL AID WASHINGTON, DC--A campaign to establish an international fund to "bring the settlers home" is the centerpiece of the strategic plan developed by Brit Tzedek v'Shalom (the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace), a pro-Israel, anti-Occupation organization of American Jews which was founded this past spring.

"A recent Peace Now survey shows that almost 80 percent of the settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were attracted to live there by major economic incentives, not by ideological or religious commitment, and we know that the primary incentive was extremely inexpensive, high-quality housing," said Marcia Freedman, newly elected Board Chair of Brit Tzedek. "Most families wishing to leave and return to live within the old 1967 borders are prohibited from doing so because they cannot afford to buy a comparable home or apartment."

Brit Tzedek proposes that the international community, led by the United States, establish a fund to make it possible for settlers who choose to leave to do so. "We believe that large numbers of Israeli settlers will take up this offer, perhaps even whole settlements," Freedman said, "and in this way, one of the major obstacles to a just peace between Israel and the Palestinians could be removed on a voluntary basis by individual acts of unilateral withdrawal."

In addition to adopting its first strategic plan at a three-day retreat, the board of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom elected its first officers. Marcia Freedman, chair, is an American-born former Member of the Israeli Knesset who resides in the U.S. and in Israel. She is a founder of the Israeli feminist movement and a life-long advocate of a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East. Vice-Chair Cherie Brown is the founding director of the National Coalition Building Institute, an organization with thousands of chapters around the world working on issues of racism and anti-Semitism.

"We know that there are tens of thousands of American Jews who agree with us that Israel's long-term security relies on achieving a just settlement based on two states for two peoples," said Cherie Brown. "In stage one of our membership drive, we will be reaching out to all of the many Jews who already agree with us. It's an ingathering of thousands of like-minded Jews."

Other officers include Treasurer Elliot Figman, executive director of Poets & Writers, the nation's largest literary nonprofit organization, and Secretary Barry Joseph, a human rights and internet specialist with Global Kids, an educational organization that supports urban youth to be community leaders and global citizens.

The Brit Tzedek board of directors will also launch a campaign to promote inclusivity within the institutions of Jewish communities in cities where it currently has or soon will have chapters. These include Boston, Chicago, New York, Houston, New Haven, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. "Jewish communal life has always consisted of diverse points of view," said Clare Kinberg, a Brit Tzedek spokesperson, "but external threats make us want to emphasize unity at the cost of honest and needed criticism of the policies of the Israeli government."

Brit Tzedek v'Shalom is distinguished among American Jewish organizations by a factor that marks significant social change. Its two top officers are women, and more than two-thirds of its board members are women. In most national Jewish organizations in the U.S., women make up a mere 5 percent of the leadership. "I think that the Jewish community will experience not only a new style of leadership," said Clare Kinberg, "but also a new style of advocacy that relies less on confrontation and more on persuasion."

To arrange interviews with Brit Tzedek spokespersons, please contact media relations at 510-965-0096, pennskaya@aol.com; or 773-267-0746; cell: 773-793-2515; azbecker@mindspring.com.