Explanation

I.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry wrote in November, 2023, “The violence is horrific, and the geopolitics are complex, but my call to love is simple: Stop the killing. Stop all of it. Stop it today.”

II.

The State of Israel was formed in 1948 with more than 700,000 Palestinians expelled or forced to flee from their homes, beginning a pattern of unequal rights that exists through today. Palestinians living within Israel and in the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and in Gaza are subject to different laws, policies and practices than their Israeli Jewish counterparts, resulting in a discriminatory form of systemic subjugation that severely limits the freedom, health, welfare and lives of nearly 7,000,000 Palestinians.

For over 55 years, the Israeli government has assigned different sets of rights to two peoples -- one set inordinately superior to the other, one people free and the other severely restricted, one people’s rights determined by the other, one people holding power and the other subjugated under it.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem have all conducted extensive research and issued detailed reports concluding that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians amounts to apartheid.

Since the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, the government of Israel has continued to destroy Palestinian homes and sanction the confiscation of Palestinian land for the establishment of Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank, both actions considered illegal under international law.

Palestinians have been increasingly deprived of self-determination, equal rights, natural resources, freedom of movement and peaceful dissent. Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to roadblocks, checkpoints, inspections, middle-of-the-night arrests of children in their homes and daily degradations at the hands of armed Israeli forces. Palestinians in the West Bank live under an Israeli military legal system that provides significantly fewer rights and protections than the civilian legal system governing Jewish Israelis living in the same area. This is particularly harmful to Palestinian children who are routinely incarcerated without charges being filed, subjected to solitary confinement and harsh interrogations, transferred across borders in contravention of international law and convicted at a rate of 95%.

Palestinians living within Israel are subject to discriminatory laws that govern land access, planning and zoning, with unequal allocation of state resources. Segregated K-12 Jewish and Arab public schools receive unequal subsidies. Palestinian citizens of Israel face discrimination in all areas of educational, employment and economic opportunity.

Palestinians living in Gaza have been under blockade since 2007, preventing the free movement of people, medical supplies and goods across the border.  Even before October 7, 2023, Gazans faced endemic poverty, unemployment, physical and mental health deterioration and extreme hardship.  Basic necessities including food, safe drinking water, electricity, fuel, sewage disposal and medical care were in insufficient supply. 90-97% of the water was unsafe for human consumption and required filtration for which equipment was frequently unavailable.

In 2018 Israel passed the Nation-State law, declaring Israel a nation-state of the Jewish people and stating that the right to exercise national self-determination belongs solely to the Jewish people. The law declares Jewish settlements on Palestinian land a national value and promotes their growth.

III.

No military occupation or subjugation of one people by another can last. Until Palestinians have freedom and equal rights, the cycle of violence is inevitable.

IV.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas committed a horrifying attack on Israeli civilians, killing approximately 1200 people and taking hostages.

Immediately after, Israel began one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history, targeting Gazan civilian society. As of late February, 2024, more than 30,000 Gazans have died. The killing has been wide-spread and indiscriminate and approximately two-thirds of those killed are women and children. Israel’s extensive bombing has left the built environment and infrastructure systems largely destroyed. Most of Gaza's hospitals, schools and civil society are unable to function. Many Israeli civilians and politicians have been openly advocating for this result as well as for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank.

The United Nations reported in late February, 2024, that since October approximately 80% of Gazans have been driven from their homes and at least a quarter of the population is starving. Over one million civilians have been forcibly relocated to Rafah in southern Gaza where they are living with inadequate or nonexistent food, water, shelter, sanitation, and medical care, creating unbearable conditions of suffering, starvation, disease and death.

V.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry continued in November, 2023, “We will not be silent while an entire population is denied food, water, electricity, and fuel needed to run hospitals. We cannot stand by while thousands of civilians die . . . . Staying quiet in this moment would be a stain upon our souls and would deepen our complicity.  U.S. leadership must tell Israel to stop bombing civilian areas and allow access for full humanitarian aid to flow freely into Gaza.  Every human child of God—Palestinian and Israeli—deserves safety and security. We need to stop the killing. Today. . . . As Episcopalians, we must call upon our leaders—President Biden, members of Congress, and others—to be unequivocal that we need to stop the killing. Today. This is clearly what love demands of us."