We are Palestinians and Jews who have worked together in Portland for many
years for an end to the conflict in Palestine-Israel, for an end to the
illegal Israeli occupation and for true equality, self-determination and
respect for the human, civil and national rights of all peoples of the
region.

Today we once again raise our voices, together as Jews and Palestinians of
our shared community, to call for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of
a humanitarian corridor to allow all necessary material aid into Gaza to
address the urgent needs of the people of that region.  There must be an end
to the inhumane siege and blockade of Gaza.

Together we fully endorse the statement published on October 14th by Zaha
Hassan and Daniel Levy, appended below, calling on the entire international
community to walk Israel back from the abyss.  Most especially our country,
the United States, must not continue to support Israel in its current
assault on the people of Gaza.

Zaha Hassan and Daniel Levy explain clearly the context and history of the
explosion of violence that the world woke to on October 7th.  We call on our
country to recognize and to finally address the root cause of the conflict
which is the 75 years of ongoing dispossession of the Palestinian People.
Only then may we finally begin a journey towards a lasting just peace that
actively supports the sanctity of all human life in a region that means so
much to all of us.

Initial List of Signatories: 

Nael Saker                                        Joel Beinin
Hala Gores                                        Miriam Beinin
Jenna Noelle Saadeh                      Randy Splitter
Mohammed Nabil                           Carol Mazer
Layla Abdel-Jawad                            Rabbi Joey Wolf
Nick Khoury                                     Carol Landsman
Mazen Malik                                    Gerson Robboy
Marlene Eid                                         Julia Lager-Mesulam
Layla Kanaan                                   John Blank
Laurence Qamar                            David Newman
Wael Elasady                                      Noa Grayevky
Kanaan Kanaan                               Steven Goldberg
Ramzy Farouki                                William Singer
Nour Al                                              Betsy Zucker
Waffa Hajissa                                   Laura Orgel
Frank Afranji                                    Johanna Brenner

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Levy
Zaha Hassan
Sat Oct 14 2023 - 06:20

These are painful and dangerous times. Following Hamas's launch on October
7th of an attack on Israel that has resulted in the confirmed killing of
1,300 Israelis so far, Israel on Friday gave 24 hours for half of the
Palestinian population of Gaza - 1.1 million people - to move south to make
way for what they warned would be the entry of a large ground force, having
called up 300,000 reservists. Last Monday, Israel cut food, fuel, water and
electricity to Gaza.

Israel's aerial assault on Gaza has pulverised residential neighbourhoods
already struggling to recover from previous large-scale bombardments in
2008-2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021.

At time of writing, at least 1,800 Palestinians have been killed, including
440 children.  [As of October 23, according to the Gaza Health Authority,
5,791 Palestinians have been killed; an October 22 statement estimated that
40% of the deaths are of children.] Palestinians in Gaza have nowhere to go.
Even if they did, trying to move the critically wounded and the hundreds of
other patients who have flooded Gaza's main hospitals would turn those
centres into morgues, according to the International Committee of the Red
Cross. We do not say this lightly: if the international community does not
intervene to stop what is coming, we could be watching a combination of mass
killing and forced expulsion in real time.

We both unequivocally condemn the targeting of civilians, no matter who they
are, as a violation of the laws of war. Full stop. International law defines
the conduct of war and the parameters for what constitutes legitimate
self-defence. It does not say "anything goes" or that one war crime
justifies another. It is also clear that occupied people have the right to
resist structural violence associated with military occupation - again,
within the confines of legal prohibitions.

We have both spent endless hours, most of our professional careers, warning
of the dangers that lie ahead if attention is not paid to the root causes
for the untenable situation existing between Palestinians and Israelis. In
2021, we co-authored a report that called on the United States to prioritise
rights and the security of individuals and marginalised communities in its
policy approach towards Palestine/Israel and to recalibrate US engagement
toward international law and normative behaviour, including holding Israel
accountable when it is in violation of these norms.

Closing off all diplomatic, political and legal avenues to Palestinians for
advancing their rights and for pushing back against Israeli impunity we
feared would eventually erupt into violent confrontation that would have
devastating consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis. Neither of us
is in the mood for "we told you so".

Before last week, Israelis enjoyed a high degree of normality. For
Palestinians, normal has been defined by 56 years of military occupation
that has morphed into apartheid. In Gaza, it has also included 16 years of
siege and blockade.

We are now staring into an abyss. Surely it is possible, if one accepts the
humanity and equality of all people without discrimination or distinction,
to hold three truths simultaneously. First, the militant attack on Israeli
civilians was unconscionable, inhumane and in violation of international
law. Second, Israel's collective punishment against Palestinian civilians
and its actions in Gaza are unconscionable, inhumane and a violation of
international law. And, third, one must address the context of occupation
and apartheid in which this is unfolding if one is to maintain integrity and
be able to plot a strategy going forward in which both Palestinians and
Israelis can live in freedom and security. If we can hold these three
truths, then it will be possible to prevent further casualties, secure the
release of prisoners and step back from the precipice.

The priority now must be to stop the death and destruction in Gaza. Further
bombings and a ground invasion will only exacerbate the crisis and increase
the likelihood of war expanding to the West Bank (where the Israeli army and
settler killings of Palestinians have accelerated), to Israel's northern
border and possibly beyond. Israel has chosen to act in this manner, not
Hamas. The bombs falling are Israeli and the decision to cut essential
supplies is Israeli.

A humanitarian corridor must be opened between Israel and Egypt for food and
supplies to get into Gaza. Trying to force Palestinians out of Gaza into
Egypt is not a humanitarian gesture. Egypt is resisting for now but pressure
may increase on it and other Arab countries to open borders to displaced
Palestinians. As a largely refugee population forced out of what became the
state of Israel during the Nakba (or catastrophe) between 1948-1949,
Palestinians in Gaza are rightly concerned about never being allowed to
return to the strip once evacuated.

Israeli political leaders are openly threatening a second Nakba. The
language being used is itself extremely escalatory, even genocidal. What is
needed is an outside world that can walk Israel back from the abyss.

Western leaders have spoken thus far with tremendous empathy about the
humanity of Israelis. As well they should. However, there has been a glaring
absence of any reference to the humanity of Palestinians - it should not be
hard to acknowledge Palestinian pain, suffering and endless dispossession.
This sin of omission in the language coming from the US and many European
leaders is encouraging the committing of war crimes. Western leaders should
be on notice and desist from being part of the choir of incitement.

If the EU and its institutions are incapable of stepping up collectively,
then leaders in individual member states must push harder for an end to this
wanton destruction - perhaps as coalitions of the willing from among the
Global North and the Global South.

Zaha Hassan is a human rights lawyer and fellow at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace. Previously she was the co-ordinator and senior
legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team during Palestine's bid for
UN membership, and a member of the Palestinian delegation to
Quartet-sponsored exploratory talks between 2011 and 2012

Daniel Levy is the president of the US/Middle East Project and a former
Israeli negotiator with the Palestinians at Taba under prime minister Ehud
Barak and at Oslo B under prime minister Yitzhak Rabin