Jews Against the Occupation is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel (see: http://www.jatonyc.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_Against_the_Occupation ).
Jews Against the Occupation Mission Statement: “Jews Against the Occupation is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel. Our points of unity are as follows:
NO OCCUPATION IN OUR NAME. We as American Jews reject the Israeli government assertion that it is "necessary" to subjugate Palestinians for the sake of keeping Jews safe. We assert that security can only come from mutual respect, and that the occupation of Palestine is only worsening the position of Jews in the Middle East and around the world.
RESTORE HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS. The Israeli military fires bone-crushing rubber bullets and live ammunition at unarmed Palestinian civilians engaged in peaceful protest, failing to distinguish between peaceful and violent resistance. The Israeli government has been demolishing Palestinian houses and crops in the Occupied Territories, while allowing Jewish settlers -- many of them American -- to illegally occupy the same land.
END U.S. AID TO ISRAEL. The U.S. government provides more aid to Israel than to any other country—the vast majority of this is for military purposes. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have propped up the occupation and fueled the Israeli government’s war machine (as well as disguising the occupation’s true cost). This aid must end.
STOP ECONOMIC ATTACKS ON PALESTINE. The Israeli government has attacked the Palestinian economy by: closing Palestinian banks; imposing extreme taxes on business; withdrawing operating licenses; destroying industrial equipment; bulldozing farmland and banning fishing; restricting workers' movement; controlling the export of Palestinian goods; closing the borders of the Occupied Territories; and refusing to fund infrastructure like water and electricity -- even in Arab villages within Israel.
LET PALESTINIANS RETURN HOME. Thousands of Palestinians were driven out of their houses and off of their farms during and after the creation of Israel. They must be allowed to return to their homeland.
ANTI-SEMITISM VS. CRITIQUES OF ISRAEL. Jews Against the Occupation stands firmly against anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms. We see our historical struggle against anti- Semitism--a cornerstone of European white supremacist ideology--as inherently linked to all struggles against oppression. We therefore stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom.
Judaism is a cultural and religious identity, which must not be equated with Zionism, a political movement. Criticism of the state of Israel, its policies, or the idea of a Jewish state does not by itself constitute anti-Semitism. Dismissing critics of Israel or of Zionism as "anti-Semitic" is a means of stifling debate and masking the impact of the occupation.” [1].
JATO on olive trees: “"When you lay siege to a city and wage war against it a long time to capture it, you must not destroy its trees." Deuteronomy 20:19. Jewish Tradition teaches us that even in a time of conflict we must not engage in collective punishment of innocent civilians.Over 30,000 Palestinian olive trees have been uprooted during the current intifada by Israeli security forces and settlers. These actions are in direct violation of Israeli law, international law, and Jewish tradition. These trees, some of them hundreds of years old, were the economic and ecological basis of Palestinian towns, having produced oil and olives for the villagers. Each one of them paid the cost of year after year of schooling for a child, or the cost of a room built for a growing child. The Struggle for a Just Peace in Israel/Palestine needs strong voices here in the U.S. Help break the silence around Jewish opposition to the Israeli government's attacks on Palestinians - home demolitions, assassinations, detentions, curfews, collective punishment, and the occupation itself.”
[2].
[1]. Jews Against the Occupation: http://www.jatonyc.org/ .
[2]. JATO, “Words and Actions”: http://www.jatonyc.org/ .