T’ruah opposes the bill proposed in the Knesset to annex Ma’aleh Adumim, the settlement directly east of Jerusalem. Annexing this piece of land, which connects the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, would constitute a dangerous step toward making permanent an occupation that violates the human rights of Palestinians and endangers the lives of Israelis. This unilateral step by Israel would also change the facts on the ground and damage hopes for future peace negotiations.
The expansion of settlements and the military occupation violate both international human rights law and the Jewish insistence on treating every single person as an equal creation in the image of God. While Israelis living in the West Bank enjoy the rights of Israeli civil law, their Palestinian neighbors live under military law. The location of Ma’aleh Adumim in particular blocks Palestinians from traveling easily between their homes and their work, school, and family.
The current Israeli government’s insistence on prioritizing settlement building and land over human life violates Jewish law and values. In 1967, Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik, the preeminent American Orthodox rabbi of the twentieth century, wrote:
One does not have to be a rabbi or a posek to know that the Land of Israel was granted to us in its entirety. . . However, there is another halakhah klalit –that preservation of a single life pushes aside the entire Torah, and this is certainly true regarding the preservation of two and a half million Jews, may they multiply. . .Historical sentiments, without accounting for reasons and considerations of defense, are not binding with regards to the question of the safety of the state and its inhabitants. . .It is prohibited for Rabbis or anyone else to declare in the name of the Torah that it is forbidden to return any part of the land, when stable peace can save the lives of thousands and ten thousands of our brethren who dwell in Zion.
At a time when the Israeli and Palestinian people most need their leaders to restore trust and move towards real diplomacy, Israel should not take unilateral steps that erode faith in its commitment to a lasting peace.