Dear Supervisors Rexroad (edited line),
This the same message as the letter you should have received in the mail with the addition of Physicians for Social Responsibility as a signatory. We are writing as your constituents, as U.S. taxpayers, and as members of groups that advocate strongly for human rights. As such, we urge you not to attend the December 4, 2011, Annual AIPAC Sacramento Membership Event, (AIPAC is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee).
Our government’s continued political, military and financial support of Israel is politically and morally untenable: it promotes war and oppression, not peace and justice. As Americans, we are deeply concerned that the United States continues to isolate itself from world opinion with regard to basic human rights, respect for international law and equal treatment for Palestinians. We are outraged that the Obama administration has cut off U.S. support for UNESCO after this important humanitarian agency recently voted to admit Palestine as a member state. While AIPAC lobbies Congress to persist in supporting Israel’s bankrupt policies by giving it more than $3 billion a year (mostly military aid), the Israeli government continues to: steal Palestinian land and water for its illegal settlements (including another 60,000 illegal units in occupied east Jerusalem) and the “separation” wall; destroy Palestinian homes, farms and orchards; and maintain its military checkpoints in the West Bank that wreak havoc on Palestinians’ daily lives and prevent their freedom of movement.
Israel also continues to deny equal rights to Palestinian citizens of Israel, who face discrimination on a daily basis, without equal access to housing, education or transportation. The Israeli military systematically arrests, tortures and imprisons Palestinian activists, including children, who attempt to organize non-violent resistance to their oppression. While people all over the Middle East are demanding freedom and democracy, AIPAC supports denying these basic rights to Palestinians under the guise of security for Israel, which disingenuously claims to be “the only democracy” in the Middle East.
Your attendance at the AIPAC event indicates that you support its efforts and demonstrates a lack of concern for the suffering of Palestinians as they struggle for self-determination. AIPAC does not represent the interests or views of most American Jews, Israelis or Americans. The policies that AIPAC supports through its massive lobbying efforts benefit corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and other weapons manufacturers. We ask that you take a stand for a just and peaceful end to the conflict in the region, which means opposing AIPAC and its support of Israel’s policies of aggression and repression. We also ask that you meet with representatives of our organizations to discuss a human rights-based U.S. policy toward Palestine/Israel. To set up a meeting, please call 916-448-7157.
Sincerely,
American Muslims for Palestine,
Sacramento Davis Committee Palestinian Rights
Grandmothers for Peace
Israel Divestment Campaign,
Sacramento Jewish Voice for Peace,
Sacramento Chapter Palestine American Congress,
Sacramento Peace in the Precincts,
Sacramento Physicians for Social Responsibility,
Sacramento Sacramento Area Peace Action
Veterans for Peace,
Sacramento Chapter Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Sacramento
