We are encouraged to see that 66% of Americans support a ceasefire on the war in Gaza. We are confident that that percentage is even higher in Oak Park. CJPIP (Committee for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel) will continue to work to unite people of all backgrounds toward the goals of peace, security, justice, and equality for all.
We know that our community can turn grief and outrage into meaningful action.
We know we can hold multiple truths: that the massive killing, wounding, and hostage-taking of civilians in Israel by Hamas and the annihilation in Gaza of families, homes, hospitals, houses of worship, and schools by Israel — are all war crimes.
And we must also be willing to recognize the context of these past weeks and reject decades of dispossession of the Palestinian people, systems of crushing inequality and injustice in Palestinian daily life, and the 16-year strangling blockade of Gaza. We can see that path has just brought violence and suffering to Palestinians and to Israelis.
For decades, our government has fanned the flames of violence by offering unwavering support for Israel’s policies in the form of granting massive military aid, maintaining a foreign policy that supports Israel’s crippling blockade of Gaza, and in recent weeks, cruelly blocking a ceasefire resolution in the UN Security Council. All our government’s words about humanitarian aid are hollow without a ceasefire.
We must act in these hard and painful days to tell our Congress people that we are the Ceasefire Majority by calling:
Congressman Danny Davis, 202-225-5006, and ask him to join other Illinois representatives, Garcia, Ramirez, and Jackson, in supporting the House ceasefire resolution.
Senator Durbin, 202-224-2152, and Senator Duckworth, 202-224-2854, to tell them they must support a ceasefire now.
Committee for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
Steering Committee
Oak Park
