Reps. Jamie Raskin, Jerrold Nadler, Jim Himes, Sara Jacobs, and Dan Goldman led a total of more than 100 of their colleagues in urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately halt plans to demolish buildings, including private homes and a community center, in the West Bank village of Umm al-Kheir.
“We are gravely concerned that any further actions by settlers, vigilantes or the government to destroy the village of Umm Al-Kheir will traumatize this peaceful community and jeopardize the prospect of long-term peace,” the letter states.
Earlier this week, Israel’s Civil Administration issued a demolition notice for homes in a Palestinian village in the southern West Bank, reviving orders that were decades old, just as the army faced court scrutiny for failing to act against a nearby illegal Jewish settler outpost.
Residents of the long-established village of Umm al-Kheir have two weeks to appeal the demolition notices. The notice was sent on Tuesday, on the same day that the Israeli army was summoned to explain to the Jerusalem District Court why it did not act to enforce court orders barring settlers from moving into an illegal outpost built near Umm al-Kheir and prohibiting any further construction on the site.
“This letter could not be more important,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement, adding that he has “visited the village of Umm al-Kheir numerous times and witnessed the impact of violence by Israeli settlerss and the destructive bureaucracy of the occupation on the community.”
Hadar Susskind, President and CEO of New Jewish Narrative added: “This congressional action deserves praise. The Israeli government has let radical settlers set its policies in the West Bank, leading to a sharp rise in settler attacks against Palestinians, a lack of law enforcement against settler violence, and more and more Palestinians displaced from their homes.
“We must not be silent about Israeli government policies that push Palestinians off of their lands. You cannot condone settler violence, bulldoze homes, and drive people out of their homes and expect support from the United States. Prime Minister Netanyahu needs to heed this warning.”
