T’ruah rejects in the strongest possible terms the so-called “peace plan” put forth today by Trump, Kushner, and Netanyahu. A true agreement requires input from all parties involved. By excluding Palestinian leadership from the table, Trump has demonstrated that this plan has never been about achieving peace and stability, but rather has always been an attempt to advance the agenda of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the annexationist, far-right settlement movement.
The prophet Amos, speaking God’s word to the people of Israel, asks rhetorically, “Can two walk together without having met?” (3:3) The two peoples to whom the land of Israel is a sacred homeland, Jews and Palestinians, have no path forward unless we meet and commit to walking together — not with one side dictating terms.
T’ruah remains committed to a negotiated agreement that upholds the human rights and security of both Israelis and Palestinians. We know we are not alone. Israelis who dream of a Jewish and democratic state are right to oppose this plan, as are the vast majority of American Jews, as well as Palestinians who dream of the same right to self determination that Jews enjoy in the State of Israel . We still believe in the possibility of an Israel that is not compromised by the moral and political implications of ongoing occupation, and we call on major Jewish institutions to join us in rejecting today’s plan.
This plan, which annexes Jewish settlements and creates disconnected, isolated areas under Palestinian rule, violates international law, and enshrines the ways in which Palestinians under occupation are deprived of their basic civil and political rights. We are also disturbed by the possibility that some Palestinian citizens of Israel might be stripped of their Israeli citizenship as their communities are transferred into Palestine.
What was released today works to create one state in which Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza lack equal rights. As a result, Palestinians have rightly rejected the so-called sovereignty offered by this plan. While some Palestinians might have a path to citizenship, others would be stuck in isolated island-cities, denied rights such as freedom of movement or the right to vote.
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,000 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.
