Open Shuhada Street
Support a comprehensive peace that promotes justice and equality for all Israelis and Palestinians.
As a person of faith, I support a comprehensive peace that promotes justice and equality for all Israelis and Palestinians.
I am writing to you today as part of the ?Campaign to Open Shuhada Street,? an annual effort, now in its fifth year, aimed at focusing attention on the plight of Hebron residents and, more broadly, at raising awareness about the Israeli occupation.
Israeli forces shut a section of Shuhada Street to Palestinian vehicle traffic in 1994 following the massacre of 29 Palestinian worshipers at the Ibrahimi Mosque by Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein. The street was briefly opened to Palestinian vehicles in 1997, but following the start of the second intifada in 2000, more of the street was closed to Palestinian vehicles and restrictions on Palestinian pedestrian traffic were added.
An ?Agreed Minute? negotiated by the U.S. and signed by the PLO and Israel in 1997 states, ?The leaders agreed that the process of reopening Shuhada Road will begin immediately, and will be fully completed within four months?? Yet 17 years later, Shuhada Street is still closed off to Palestinians who are not allowed to resume their lives and livelihoods there.
I am writing to ask you to contact the State Department to convey urgent concern for the situation in Hebron and to insist that the agreement to open Shuhada Street finally be implemented.
Shuhada Street in Hebron vividly illustrates the impact of settlements on the daily lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. I ask you to hold Israel accountable for its actions, including its crippling closure of Shuhada Street and, more broadly, its continued expansion of settlements and restrictions on Palestinians? freedom. As a person of faith and a U.S. citizen, I care about how our tax dollars are spent, and it is my conviction that aid to our ally Israel must be conditioned on compliance with U.S. law and policy.
In the interest of a just and lasting peace that will benefit both Israelis and Palestinians, it is critical that the U.S. speak and act forthrightly.
I am writing to you today as part of the ?Campaign to Open Shuhada Street,? an annual effort, now in its fifth year, aimed at focusing attention on the plight of Hebron residents and, more broadly, at raising awareness about the Israeli occupation.
Israeli forces shut a section of Shuhada Street to Palestinian vehicle traffic in 1994 following the massacre of 29 Palestinian worshipers at the Ibrahimi Mosque by Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein. The street was briefly opened to Palestinian vehicles in 1997, but following the start of the second intifada in 2000, more of the street was closed to Palestinian vehicles and restrictions on Palestinian pedestrian traffic were added.
An ?Agreed Minute? negotiated by the U.S. and signed by the PLO and Israel in 1997 states, ?The leaders agreed that the process of reopening Shuhada Road will begin immediately, and will be fully completed within four months?? Yet 17 years later, Shuhada Street is still closed off to Palestinians who are not allowed to resume their lives and livelihoods there.
I am writing to ask you to contact the State Department to convey urgent concern for the situation in Hebron and to insist that the agreement to open Shuhada Street finally be implemented.
Shuhada Street in Hebron vividly illustrates the impact of settlements on the daily lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. I ask you to hold Israel accountable for its actions, including its crippling closure of Shuhada Street and, more broadly, its continued expansion of settlements and restrictions on Palestinians? freedom. As a person of faith and a U.S. citizen, I care about how our tax dollars are spent, and it is my conviction that aid to our ally Israel must be conditioned on compliance with U.S. law and policy.
In the interest of a just and lasting peace that will benefit both Israelis and Palestinians, it is critical that the U.S. speak and act forthrightly.
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