PRESS RELEASE
Media contact: enmrising@gmail.com
Eastern New Mexico Rising responds to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
CLOVIS, NM 10/31/2023 – After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, the British Empire took control of most of the geographic Middle East including Palestine. Then-foreign secretary Arthur Balfour proclaimed the British government’s dedication to founding a Jewish nation state in this region, now called the Balfour Declaration. Since then, Britain and the United Nations have shaped the two-state solution in the region, allocating lands in the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinians when Israel was formed following the Holocaust (1933-1945) and the Nakba (1947-1949). Currently, there are an estimated 390 square miles of the West Bank housing Jewish settlers, despite this being a violation of international law. Further, Gaza has been under a land, air, and naval blockade by the Israeli government since June 2007 when Hamas took control from the Palestinian Authority in the Palestinians’ first general election.*
On October 7th, 2023, Hamas crossed into Israeli territory and attacked Kissufim along with many other kibbutzim and Israeli military installations, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and taking nearly 240 hostages. In response, the Israeli government launched airstrikes in Gaza, killing more than 8,500 Palestinians thus far, including over 3,500 children. An Israeli military ground offensive began in Gaza on Sunday. Simultaneously, antisemitic and Islamophobic acts have seen a precipitous rise. We must decry all acts of injustice and brutality.
ENMR’s Steering Committee understands that as a non-partisan group, this topic can be divisive for our members. If we recall that our mission statement includes “…promoting bodily autonomy, equality, diversity, human rights and civil liberties through dialogue, education, and advocacy,” it’s clear that we would be remiss to say nothing in the face of this continued violence against innocent civilians. Further, New Mexico sent $13.3 million of the $3.3 billion dollars the United States sent to Israel in 2022, so our tax dollars are directly contributing to the continued assault on Gaza. Additionally, there is current bipartisan support in the House for $14.3 billion being allocated to the Israeli government war effort. For this reason, we encourage you to contact our congresspeople now to demand a ceasefire and an end to military funding in Israel. See comments for sample email/talking points.
Senator Ben Ray Lujan: https://www.lujan.senate.gov/contact/contact-form/ and 575-252-6188
Senator Martin Heinrich: https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/contact/write-martin and 575-622-7113
Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez: https://fernandez.house.gov/contact and 505-428-4680
*This is a gross oversimplification of more than one hundred years of history. If you’re looking for more information on the region’s narrative https://www.aljazeera.com/.../whats-the-israel-palestine... and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nGwE6DBHe0&t=1215s are good places to start.
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