For the past year, the eyes of the world have been fixed on the unfolding war, mass killing, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement in Gaza. In the past months we’ve witnessed Israel expand its war on Palestine to Iran, Syria, and Yemen, and in the past week it has bombarded and invaded Lebanon. Iran has retaliated with missile strikes, and the US military has positioned tens of thousands of troops in the Middle East. A regional war is no longer a dangerous possibility, it is happening.
We mourn the deaths of all innocent people in Palestine/Israel on October 7, and are enraged and grief-stricken by the ensuing genocidal violence that has killed over 42,000 people in Gaza, the West Bank, and now thousands in Lebanon, including over 16,000 children. We call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire to the war in Gaza and demand the Biden administration immediately end US military aid to Israel, for the sake of the health and well-being of all people living in the region.
As an alliance fighting for housing justice, we are particularly appalled by Israel’s systematic destruction of housing and other critical social infrastructure in Gaza, and now in Lebanon. In Gaza, 70% of housing has been destroyed, along with 85% of school buildings, more than half of all healthcare facilities, 65% of road networks, and 65% of cropland. Nearly all residents of Gaza have been forcibly displaced. RTTC’s members know the grave hardships caused by displacement here in the United States, so we can only imagine the devastation caused in Gaza. We are further appalled that the destructive violations of human rights and dignity are being fully funded by the US government. Over the past year, the US has provided the Israeli government with nearly $20 billion in military aid. This while residents displaced by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina confront dangerously short-funded disaster relief efforts and agencies.
Right to the City Alliance’s continued call for a ceasefire and an end to military aid to Israel is linked to our calls for serious changes to political and economic priorities here at home. We honor those who continue to struggle for an end to militarism, displacement, racism, fascism, and apartheid. We honor those who continue to struggle for peace, justice, dignity, and democracy–from Palestine, to our communities right here in the U.S.
