We mourn all the deaths. We lament the loss of Jewish lives resulting from this conflict, including those killed in desperate suicide attacks by Palestinians. We cannot, however, ignore the fact that the overwhelming number of families shedding tears for loved ones slain or maimed since September, 2000, has been Palestinian. We are both pained and outraged by the killing of more than 1200 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, by Israeli forces that are an occupying army in the areas under siege. We strongly support the call for immediate international protection of the Palestinian people.

We refute the view that the Palestinian Authority is responsible for initiating the current conflict, and condemn the arrogant and deliberately provocative actions of Ariel Sharon that helped set the chain of bloody events in motion. This was not the first time Sharon's hateful and irresponsible conduct has had deadly consequences for Palestinians.

We support the Palestinian right to self-determination. In this, we take our inspiration from the long history of Jewish participation in struggles for liberation and justice for all peoples, a history which is stained by Israel's current status as an abusive occupying power. As Jews, we condemn Israel's disproportionate use of massive military might—including F-16 bombers, helicopter gunships, high velocity bullets, and anti-tank missiles—against the Palestinian civilian population. Fifty years of conflict have increasingly compromised the ideals that contributed to Israel's founding and have caused a new generation of Israelis to suffer for political goals that many Jews inside and outside Israel do not share.

We refuse to allow our views to be characterized either as the product of "internalized anti-Semitism" or as a "betrayal" of our people just because we do not participate in the unqualified support of Israel that is expected of us as U.S. Jews. We are proud Jewish women who are well aware that anti-Semitism continues to thrive and to impact Jews around the world. We actively challenge anti-Semitism and all other forms of discrimination through our work for social change. But we unequivocally reject the view that the experience of having been victimized legitimates or excuses the exploitation of others.

As Jews, we call upon the Israeli government to end immediately its immoral and illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories and to evacuate the unlawful Jewish settlements it has used to subvert the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. Such actions would demonstrate Israel's true commitment to achieving peaceful coexistence with the Palestinian people, and would honor the tradition of justice that infuses Jewish teachings, Jewish practice and Jewish history.

As United States citizens, we call upon our own government to support the Palestinian appeal for immediate international protection. We also call for an end to the U.S. government's political and diplomatic support for Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, and for termination of our government's substantial economic subsidization of the occupation, without which it could not survive. We seek a national policy that supports the right to Palestinian self-determination and peace with justice for Israeli Jews and for Palestinians.

Finally, we call upon U.S. Jews to join us in speaking out in every way you can. Contact the Israeli Consulate and Israeli government officials. Write to President Bush, Secretary Colin-Powell, your elected representatives, and the editors of the publications you read. Challenge those around you who continue to support Israel uncritically. Educate yourselves about Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights. Support organizations—including Palestinian and Israeli ones—working on behalf of Palestinian dignity and self-determination.

And remember what our own history tells us:

Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with injustice.