Faith Leaders Speak Truth to Elected Leaders on Gaza

Faith groups and individuals gathered at the King Center’s Amphitheater to read an Interfaith statement signed by 48 faith leaders from metro Atlanta. They call for an urgent ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. They say the solution to peace requires ending the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, ending Israel’s apartheid policies that discriminate against Palestinians, and restoring freedom and human rights to all Palestinians. There is no military solution to this conflict. 

Three faith leaders, Azka Mahmood, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ayeola Omolara Kaplan, with Jews Against Genocide, and Rev. Emilee Walker-Cornetta, an Episcopal priest, will read the statement from faith leaders.

ATLANTA INTERFAITH COALITION FOR PALESTINE STATEMENT

We are a multi-faith, multi-ethnic, multiracial, and multi-generational coalition of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders, and we call on our elected leaders to insist upon an urgent ceasefire in Gaza, full access to humanitarian aid and an end to the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. The loss of innocent lives must stop. Our faiths and traditions share a teaching that all people are created equal. We watch what is happening in the Holy Land with deep grief as Palestinian brothers and sisters are treated as if their lives are expendable. This is why all people of faith and good conscience must join us in calling for an immediate end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

Elected leaders must immediately call for a ceasefire to put an end to the disastrous loss of precious and irreplaceable human life. In its quest for revenge against Hamas, the Israeli government has launched a campaign of indiscriminate bombing against the civilian population in Gaza. They have hit mosques, churches, hospitals, residential buildings, refugee camps, and the offices of international aid groups. More than 8,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, over 3,400 of whom are children. More than 800 Palestinian families are now gone; every living member of their family tree was killed. Scholars and human rights organizations are warning that we are witnessing genocide. How many Palestinians must die before our leaders will act? Our elected leaders must join us in calling for an immediate ceasefire. 

Elected leaders must also call for all humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza. Israel, which already restricted the availability of basic resources in Gaza in a 16-year debilitating siege, has cut off the supply of water, electricity, and fuel and, until quite recently, was refusing to let humanitarian aid and food enter the already besieged area. Subjecting the population in Gaza to starvation and exposing them to disease. Hospital generators have run out of fuel, crippling their ability to provide life-saving care. Although Israel has now agreed to let some UN trucks into Gaza, it is not nearly enough to meet the immense need. There are hundreds of aid trucks at the border waiting to be allowed in. Our elected leaders must press Israel to allow all of them into Gaza, including the ones carrying fuel.

 Finally, elected leaders must call for an end to the apartheid system that governs the lives of Palestinians and Israelis and for a just resolution to the occupation of Palestinian lands. The conflict in Palestine/Israel did not start on October 7, 2023. It stems from the decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands by the Israeli government, and the continuous violence and displacement the Israeli government and settlers have wrought on the Palestinian people. Contrary to what many believe, this is not a religious war. It is not an ancient conflict. It is a straightforward matter of settler colonialism that has been ongoing since the early 20th century. Without a true and just resolution to the occupation, the root of many decades of violence, a ceasefire today will only put a temporary pause on the daily reality of Palestinians living under Israeli apartheid: unannounced airstrikes, settler attacks, military occupation, and a crushing siege. Without a true and just resolution to the occupation, this conflict will continue to claim innocent Israeli lives, just like the 1400 killed on October 7. We grieve with their families, and we pray that the Creator grants them peace. It is past time for our leaders to have the courage to call for an end to the unjust apartheid and illegal occupation of Palestine.

 We are all equally beloved by our Creator. Our Israeli and Palestinian brothers and sisters each deserve safety, the safe return of their loved ones in captivity, and to be embraced as they grieve those they have lost. The fact that the humanity of Palestinians and Israelis has come to be seen as mutually exclusive is a tragedy of human frailty. We pray that we will always remember each other’s humanity. We pray that our leaders will have the courage to do what is right. We call on them for an immediate ceasefire, full access to humanitarian aid into Gaza, and an end to the occupation of Palestine in pursuit of permanent peace.  END OF INTERFAITH STATEMENT

ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS FROM FAITH LEADERS

Reverend Tim McDonald served as a full-time assistant pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church from 1978 to 1984 and traveled to the Middle East three times during that time. He is the Senior Pastor at the First Iconium Baptist Church and president of Concerned Black Clergy in Atlanta. 

Summary of Rev. McDonald’s statement: 

 During my first visit to the Middle East, “I discovered that the Holy Land wasn’t very holy. I saw with my own eyes Israeli bulldozers tearing down perfectly stable Palestinian homes to make room for Israeli settlements.”

The 1946 National Geographic map calls the area Palestine, not Israel. Another map shows the loss of Palestinian land from 1946 to 2008

As you can see from the map, Israeli settlers have occupied more and more Palestinian land, but they want to be viewed as victims. When you occupy Palestinian land because you have superior military weapons, displace families, bulldoze their homes, and shoot those who resist, you can’t call yourself the victim. You are the occupier.

Israel should not equate the Palestinian people with terrorists. The United States has terrorists, but we don’t say all Americans are terrorists.

The occupation needs to stop, and the bombing and killings need to cease on both sides.

What is happening in Gaza is wrong. I have been there and seen the suffering. I don’t want my tax dollars being used to bomb innocent people. We call upon our government and all elected officials to cease the bombing and allow humanitarian aid to come into Gaza.

Ilise Cohen is a Sephardic Jew from Atlanta. She’s a longtime scholar, activist, and educator on Palestine, Israel, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jews. She co-founded the Jewish Voice for Peace Atlanta chapter and is a member of global Jewish networks working for Justice in Palestine in the Black, Indigenous, and people of color  (BIPOC), Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jewish network. Illise has co-led multiple delegations to Israel/Palestine to meet with nonviolent activists and human rights defenders. 

Summary of Ilise Cohen’s Statement:

As one of the leaders of the Jewish Voice for Peace chapter in Atlanta for many years, I was privileged to invite speakers and organized activists from Israel and Palestine to share their life experiences in Israel and occupied Palestine. 

Over the years, these acquaintances have become dear friends, and I want to share with you today what it’s like for them to humanize the situation.

Yusuf Aljamal came to Atlanta to share stories he wrote about Gaza and testimonies he translated about child detention and hunger strikes.

Aljamal became a refugee during the Nakba in 1948, when Zionist gangs attacked his family’s village of Aqer, and the family fled to Gaza.  

Though he now lives abroad with his new wife, the rest of his family remains in Gaza. He planned to return to Gaza to celebrate his marriage, but on October 15, his family home was hit by an Israeli bomb, killing nine members of his family. 

Rafaat Alareer came to Atlanta in 2014 to talk about Gaza Writes Back, a book he edited that incorporated chapters by young writers about Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli assault between 2008 and 2009. 

On October 22, with no warning, Alareer’s home in a building in Gaza City was bombed. His family housed 23 people in their flat, mostly women and children who had evacuated from other parts of Gaza. His family survived. But three of his neighbors did not survive the bombing. He recalls there is nowhere safe in Gaza.

Ahmed Abu Artema, a Palestinian writer and activist, was in Atlanta in 2019. He’s known to have inspired and co-founded the weekly March of Return, one of the largest nonviolent Palestinian protest movements to recognize the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Though non-violent, it was met with Israeli military brutality.

 After October 7, Ahmed gave daily testimonies about life in Gaza and implored people in the U.S. and worldwide to do something. His house was bombed, and he was burned and in an unstable condition. One of his sons died, and his two brothers and mother-in-law were also killed. 

 Palestinians living in the West Bank and the anti-occupation Jewish Israelis in Israel who are co-resistors are all being targeted and threatened by Israeli settlers when they call for a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation. Palestinian villages in the West Bank are being depopulated at an alarming rate because of increased settler violence and impunity.

 Many of the Israeli families who lost loved ones that day and loved ones who were kidnapped have been begging the Israeli government to stop the airstrikes and the ground invasion. Bring home their loved ones, and not one more life lost, and not to use their loved ones as an excuse for revenge.

As members of Atlanta’s Jewish community and the Atlanta Jews Against Genocide, we call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We are mourning the over 8,000 killed in Gaza. We are mourning the 1,400 and more killed in Israel. We refuse to allow our government and the government of Israel to twist our grief to justify this genocide against the Palestinian people.

“Never again, never again for anyone, never again in Gaza. Never again, especially in our name. We demand a ceasefire now.” 

Jacob Flowers, Regional Director for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

Summary of Jacob Flowers’s Statement:

As Quakers, we believe in the sacred worth of each person and stand against violence in all forms. Israeli military action is not what is needed now. It will only inflict more suffering.

 AFSC began doing relief work in Gaza in 1949. And even then, we spoke about the need for justice for Palestinians. Our staff had been present in Gaza throughout all the Israeli attacks over the last decades. And AFSC has long advocated for an end to the Gaza blockade.

 We have witnessed the destruction, death, and suffering wrought by Israel’s apartheid policies and ongoing use of military violence, all of it with U.S. support and U.S. tax dollars. Through this experience, it has become clear to us that security cannot be created by systemic oppression. Palestinians suffer from daily violence and collective punishment. 

There’s no true peace without justice. And history shows us that oppressed people will continue to find ways to resist their oppression. The human costs of continuing along the current path are far too great. 

The only path for lasting peace for Palestine and Israel is by uprooting occupation and apartheid. We have to call for a ceasefire now. We need our elected officials to call for a ceasefire now.

Written by Gloria Tatum