October, 05 2015, 10:30am EDT
JVP Statement on State of Emergency in Jerusalem and the West Bank
WASHINGTON
Jewish Voice for Peace mourns the lives lost in violent attacks, both Palestinian and Israeli, in the last days and weeks.
We are deeply alarmed by the escalated level of collective punishment being imposed on Palestinians by both settlers and the Israeli Army. In the last 24 hours, the IDF has used live fire in Jenin and elsewhere in the West Bank, wounding over 100 Palestinians. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has declared a state of emergency after their staff and ambulances were attacked 14 times in the last 72 hours.
The tensions over Al Aqsa/the Temple Mount clearly have been a flashpoint for this wave of violence, but its roots stretch much deeper. Months of incitement by the Israeli government and decades of occupation, institutionalized discrimination, and displacement have led to this point.
What will it take for the status quo to change? For the walls to be demolished, the raids ended, the checkpoints dismantled, the families reunited? These events are an urgent reminder of our responsibility to join hands with those who seek equality and justice for all the people of Palestine and Israel. Nonviolent protest, economic pressure, and an end to unconditional US military and diplomatic aid to Israel are the path towards a long term resolution that ends the occupation and brings about full equality for all people in the region.
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. JVP has over 200,000 online supporters, over 70 chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.
(510) 465-1777LATEST NEWS
Open Letter Demands Global Finance Overhaul to Fight Climate and Debt Crises
"The institutions of world finance have lost their muscle," wrote more than 100 activists, celebrities, and political leaders. "You can be the leaders who bring them into the 21st century."
Apr 16, 2024
Quoting the economist John Maynard Keynes at the time of the founding of the modern global finance system in 1944, more than 100 signatories on Tuesday called on the world's largest economies to allow the world "to taste hope again" by pouring resources into solving the global debt and climate crises.
Keynes remarked after the historic Bretton Woods meeting in New Hampshire that the summit offered new hope to everyone from "our businessmen and our manufacturers and our unemployed" as world leaders established the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
But with the world now "rocked by conflict, food insecurity, biodiversity loss, and spiraling inflation," said the signers of an open letter organized by communications and campaign group Project Everyone, the global community needs "another Bretton Woods moment"—one that would correct the "imperfect" system hammered out 80 years ago and live up to the ideals that were centered at the original meeting, including "prosperity as a means of peace" and wealth as a means of serving "the common good."
The letter states that global inequality is "compounded by the devastation wrought by climate change," which is disproportionately likely to impact the Global South even as developing countries contribute a mere fraction of the planet-heating emissions of wealthy nations.
The signatories—including International Rescue Committee CEO David Miliband, philanthropist Abigail Disney, and singer and activist Annie Lennox—called on G20 countries to take steps including tripling their investment in the World Bank and IMF, canceling developing countries' debt to the institutions, and reforming tax codes to ensure big polluters and the wealthiest people contribute to efforts to mitigate inequality.
"This is your chance," reads the letter, which was released as world leaders met in Washington, D.C. for the World Bank and IMF's Spring Meetings. "The institutions of world finance have lost their muscle. You can be the leaders who bring them into the 21st century. You can unlock the colossal public and private investment potential of renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and climate adaptation."
Under the status quo, the signatories noted, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are "way off track," with $3 trillion still needed achieve the objective of a "greener, fairer, better world by 2030," as agreed to by 193 U.N. member states.
Project Everyone and its supporters reiterated a demand made by Oxfam International Monday to cancel debts owed by countries in the Global South that are facing rising inequality, as their debt obligations to the IMF and the World Bank have left them unable to invest in education, climate adaptation, housing, and other public services.
"Removing burdensome debt allows countries to invest in their people and their future: in resilience, education, health, and nutrition," wrote the signatories. "This drives growth and creates string partners to trade with... Each of us stands to gain from stability, lower food and energy costs, and nature protection."
The wealthiest countries in the world, said Project Everyone, must look to the leaders who met at Bretton Woods and "fulfill their promise: to transform these instruments for peace and prosperity and truly set them to work in our common interest."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Aid Coalition Says Gaza Cease-Fire Needed to Avert 'Catastrophic' Middle East War
"To avoid the security situation spiraling out of control, all efforts must be made to ensure de-escalation through political and diplomatic means alone."
Apr 16, 2024
A coalition of more than a dozen humanitarian groups on Tuesday stressed the need for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip following Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel, which has been waging a devastating war on the Palestinian enclave for more than six months.
The humanitarian groups—including International Rescue Committee, Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, and ActionAid—said in a joint statement that "recent escalations in the Middle East are unprecedented and risk regional conflagration, threatening the lives of millions of civilians."
"To avoid the security situation spiraling out of control, all efforts must be made to ensure de-escalation through political and diplomatic means alone," the statement reads. "A regional conflict would be catastrophic for the Middle East, where millions are already affected by existing crises due to conflict, displacement, poverty, and climate change."
The groups argued that escalating tensions between Israel and Iran "are closely linked to the ongoing conflict in Gaza," underscoring the need for "an immediate and permanent cease-fire" to "prevent further human suffering and to de-escalate tensions in the region."
"This latest round of violence was predictably fueled by decades of impunity for state violations of a most fundamental global rule: the prohibition on the use of force."
The statement comes days after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend in response to the Israeli military's bombing of Tehran's consulate in the capital of Syria earlier this month—an attack that killed diplomats and a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander.
United Nations experts said Tuesday that both Israel's consulate attack and Iran's retaliation violated international law. The experts also said an Israeli military response to Iran's missile and drone attack would be illegal.
"This latest round of violence was predictably fueled by decades of impunity for state violations of a most fundamental global rule: the prohibition on the use of force," the experts said.
The broader Middle East conflict stemming from Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip now involves at least 16 countries, and Iran's retaliation against Israel led war hawks in the U.S. to call for further escalation—including a direct U.S. attack on Iran.
Israel, for its part, has pledged to "exact a price from Iran" in response to the firing of missiles and drones, most of which were intercepted with U.S. help.
The humanitarian coalition warned Tuesday that any further military exchanges would risk disaster and implored all parties involved to "immediately work towards de-escalation."
"Drawing on our extensive collective experience in the region, we understand that crises in the Middle East often have far-reaching consequences beyond its borders," the groups said. "A regional conflict would likely result in significant global ramifications, including forced displacement and migration, disruptions to global supply chains, and impacts on energy supplies."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Should Be a Global Wake-Up Call': Coral Reefs Suffer Fourth Mass Bleaching Event
"The announcement of the fourth global bleaching event is an urgent call to do two things: reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work together to prioritize resilient coral reefs for conservation."
Apr 16, 2024
Scientists said Monday that the world's coral reefs are facing a fourth global bleaching event as the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency pushes ocean temperatures to record highs, imperiling the critical underwater ecosystems that sustain thousands of species.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)—which NOAA co-chairs—said they documented coral bleaching in the northern and southern hemispheres of every major ocean basin on Earth between February 2023 and April of this year. It could be the worst global bleaching event on record.
"Since early 2023, mass bleaching of coral reefs has been confirmed throughout the tropics including Florida in the U.S.; the Caribbean; Brazil; the eastern Tropical Pacific (including Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia); Australia's Great Barrier Reef; large areas of the South Pacific (including Fiji, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Samoas, and French Polynesia); the Red Sea (including the Gulf of Aqaba); the Persian Gulf; and the Gulf of Aden," the organizations said in a statement.
"NOAA has received confirmation of widespread bleaching across other parts of the Indian Ocean basin as well, including in Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Tromelin, Mayotte, and off the western coast of Indonesia," they added.
"More than half the reefs on the planet have basically experienced bleaching-level heat stress in the last year."
Derek Manzello, coordinator of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch, said that "as the world's oceans continue to warm, coral bleaching is becoming more frequent."
Excessively warm water causes corals to expel algae from their tissues, causing the organisms to turn white. While they can recover, such bleaching is evidence that corals are under significant stress and at risk of death.
The latest global bleaching event is the second in the last 10 years and "should be a global wake-up call," Manzello toldThe Washington Post.
"More than half the reefs on the planet have basically experienced bleaching-level heat stress in the last year," said Manzello.
NOAA and ICRI's statement comes as scientists around the world are voicing growing alarm over high ocean temperatures. Research released last month showed that global ocean surface temperatures had broken records every day of the year up to that point, underscoring the need to aggressively rein in fossil fuel production and use.
"Temperatures are off the charts," Emily Darling, director of coral reefs at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said Monday. "While many corals are suffering from extreme heat stress and bleaching, some locations and species show different types of natural resilience. Finding and conserving these priority coral reefs are critical to any global strategy to safeguard the planet's oceans and blue economies."
"The announcement of the fourth global bleaching event is an urgent call to do two things: reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work together to prioritize resilient coral reefs for conservation," Darling added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular