We note with anger and grief the terrible loss of lives and the many injuries resulting from Israel’s brutal response to the Palestinian demonstrators who were marking al-Naqba (the catastrophe), the Palestinian term for Israel’s creation in 1948. The rage and frustration expressed by the demonstrators are a clear message – the loss of hope that progress can be made for peace.
To our Palestinian sisters and brothers, we extend our sympathy and solidarity as these terrible events take their toll. We appeal to you not to despair. We pledge as Israeli peace activists that we shall not relent in our efforts until a fair and just solution, mutually agreeable to both sides, is in place.
Before the riots began and in commemoration of al-Naqba, a joint statement was issued by the Jerusalem Link (the coordinating body of Bat Shalom and the Jerusalem Center for Women). The statement reads in part:
“The birth of Israel was inextricably bound up with tragedies for the Palestinian people – the transformation of 750,000 Palestinians into homeless refugees, separation of family members from each other, destruction of Palestinian villages and erasing all trace of their existence, the deterioration of community life, and the loss of a homeland… Peace requires a political solution that recognizes the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to exist as an independent state beside the state of Israel. This necessitates Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories… We seek a peace that permits all the peoples of the region to live in security and dignity, guided and inspired by the values of freedom, democracy, justice, and equality.”