The Palestinian Jewish Initiative for Justice and Peace consists of Palestinian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Arabs of other nationalities and allies working together to provide an alternative local perspective on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in South Florida. Palestinian and Jewish Americans who share certain core beliefs about the conflict founded the group in order to link our local community to the national and international movement to end the Israeli occupation. Although our members identify, either ethnically or religiously, with both parties in the conflict, we are not a dialogue group, and do not focus our work on bringing people with opposing views together in order to humanize one another. Our identities, both for our Jewish and Arab members, deeply inform our work. Those of us who are Jewish reject the idea that the Israeli government or major Jewish organizations in the U.S. speak for all Jews. We reject the assertion that it is "necessary" to subjugate Palestinians in order to keep Jews safe and feel that it is impossible to solve the problem of world wide anti-Semitism through the oppression of another people. As Palestinian-Americans, we also feel that Arab and Muslim heads of state don't have the right to speak for the Palestinians, or leverage the Palestinian cause for their own ends. We see that it is possible to both acknowledge the Jewish connection to the Holy Land, while at the same time insisting on equal rights and dignity for Palestinians. We see an end to the Israeli occupation and the assertion of Palestinian rights to be crucial components to solving the conflict. We aim to express solidarity with Palestinian and Israeli organizations working together to non-violently resist occupation and injustice by exposing our local community to their voices. We also hope to support the work of organizations working for civil rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel. We will be hosting many events in South Florida. Please join us for progressive Israeli and Palestinian films, speakers, creative holiday events and more. Our events will be open to the public, but we ask that people who wish to organize with us share our points of unity. If you have questions, please email us at pjinitiative@gmail.com.
Kol Tuv and Ma’a Salaam!