Urge Your Member of Congress to Adopt the Two-State Solution Act!
Partners for Progressive Israel is happy to endorse the Two-State Solution Act, a bill introduced yesterday by Congressman Andy Levin, who represents Michigan’s ninth district, and co-sponsored by over two dozen members of Congress.
You can find the full text of the bill here.
We urge you to contact your Congressional representative (find your House member here) and ask them to add their name to the growing list of co-sponsors of the Two-State Solution Act. In your message, we encourage you to point out the many important provisions in the bill, which:
- Makes clear that official U.S. policy supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine
- Specifies that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza are occupied territory, and are not part of Israel, and that products made in those areas cannot be labeled “Made in Israel”
- Makes clear that Israeli settlements in occupied territory are part of an effort to annex that territory or maintain permanent Israeli control there
- Draws attention to Palestinian human rights, and the violation of those rights by settlement expansion, demolition of homes, revocation of residency permits, and forced evictions
- Makes clear that U.S. aid to Israel is not authorized for use in activities that perpetuate occupation or promote annexation – de jure OR de facto.
As our president, Prof. Paul Scham, stated in endorsing the Act, our position for the last 30 years is that “the Two-State Solution is the mechanism by which the State of Israel and a State of Palestine can coexist and settle their differences peacefully.” Since the status quo is both unsustainable and damaging to both Palestinians and Israelis, Prof. Scham stressed that “It is high time that Congress go on record as specifying steps that can lead to” the conflict’s resolution.
To read Rep. Levin’s press release, citing the endorsement of Partners for Progressive Israel, go to https://andylevin.house.
I support Partners for Progressive Israel, J Street, Americans for Peace Now and other groups that are still advocating for a 2 State solution. But in view of the amount of Jewish settlement in the occupied territories and the position of a majority of Jewish Israelis I think the 2SS is anachronistic at best and delusional at worst. It is time to start considering other alternatives for a just and peaceful solution to the Israel/Palestine impasse.
Thanks for your comment, Ted. Please see my article on the first page of Israel Horizons, which was sent last week, on the growing relevance of Confederation as a solution to the problems with the classic 2SS. https://www.progressiveisrael.org/what-we-do/israel-horizons/