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Friend,
Yesterday was the 75th year that Palestinians have commemorated the Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) on May 15. The stories of trauma and pain of Palestinians who lived through the horrific Nakba have rarely been heard. In roughly 18 months beginning in 1948, violent militias in Mandatory Palestine forcibly removed close to 800,000 Palestinians—two-thirds of the Palestinian population, erasing more than 400 Palestinian villages and depopulating Palestinian sections of many mixed cities and towns. And we know the Nakba never ended. To this day, the Israeli government is still trying to erase an entire people by systematically displacing and dehumanizing Palestinians. And this continues with impunity because of attempts to rewrite history and to silence Palestinians. But we will not be silenced. We will continue to ensure that Palestinian voices are heard and acknowledged—not only for healing, but also to create an honest pathway for peace. For the first time ever, the UN will commemorate the Nakba. The U.S. will not participate and in fact voted to block that event. Similarly, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tried and failed to stop a Nakba event on Capitol Hill, which nine organizations organized so we can hear directly from Palestinians who survived the Nakba. At the Nakba commemoration, a Palestinian American man, now in his 80s, personally told his family's story of pain, trauma and hardship. He was only 8 years old when the violent Nakba began. His story brought other survivors in the room to tears. It is critical that we understand that peace and healing will never happen without acknowledging the full lived experience and history of the Palestinian people. This is why I introduced a resolution calling on Congress to recognize the Nakba and the rights of Palestinians. The U.S. is the top provider of military aid to Israel, using billions of taxpayer dollars each year to support this apartheid system. As far-right Israeli officials in power call for “another Nakba” and escalate human rights abuses against Palestinians, we cannot look the other way. We cannot allow this unbearable status quo to continue. We must educate U.S. lawmakers and residents about the truth in order to counter propaganda that erases history. That’s the aim of my newly re-introduced resolution. It also calls on the United States to continue to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency—which provides social services to millions of Palestinian refugees—and to support the implementation of Palestinian refugees’ rights as enshrined in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When we stay silent, injustice thrives. Thank you for continuing to speak up with me as we build a world where everyone can thrive. In solidarity,
Rashida |
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Rashida Tlaib for Congress PO Box 32777 Detroit, MI 48232 |
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