Last Friday an estimated 2,000 Palestinians and Israelis marched together through the streets of Jerusalem in support of Palestinian efforts to gain
UN membershipand additional statehood recognition when the UN meets this fall.
Envisioning a future free of Israeli military occupation, apartheid and colonization, these protesters carried placards declaring “We March Together for Liberation,” and “Solidarity with Palestine.”
Who stands in their way? Our government does. The United States might veto Palestine’s application to the Security Council and Palestinian statehood could be debated in the Security Council as early as next Monday, July 25, and we need to send a clear message to our US government not to veto. Will you join us today in signing this important petition to the US State Department and to US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice? Friday’s demonstrators reminded us: “Only Free People Can Negotiate.” And Palestinians are not free people while living under Israeli occupation, as second-class citizens of Israel, or as refugees whom were exiled from their homes.
Palestinians are seeking membership in the United Nations as a way toward Palestinian freedom and self-determination, but President Obama mistakenly has equated this with “efforts to single Israel out” at the UN and has promised to “stand up against” this initiative. The US Congress even passed a bill to place crippling sanctions on Palestinians if they continue to press for statehood in the UN or continue to actively seek recognition as a state from other countries.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail that the worst stumbling block to freedom’s advance is the person who “believes he can set the timetable for another” person’s freedom.
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation will deliver this petition with signatures from many organizations and individuals to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice before the vote.
Want to learn more about Palestine UN membership and statehood recognition? Check out this FAQand analysis created by the US Campaign to to explore the political, legal and historical issues.
Join the US Campaign, CODEPINK, and prominent national organizations including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Jews for a Just Peace, American Muslims for Palestine, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Friends of Sabeel–North America, Interfaith Peace-Builders, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)–USA, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Peace Action–to urge the Obama Administration not to set a timetable on another’s freedom by vetoing Palestine’s UN membership application.
Thank you for taking action to tell the Obama Administration not to veto Palestine’s UN membership application! In solidarity,
Alli, Medea, Rae, Sanaa, and the CODEPINK Team
