2023-11-14 02:52:19
The American congresswoman of Palestinian origin Rashida Tlaib called this Monday for Israel’s “immediate” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to save lives and assured that “the majority of Americans want a ceasefire.”
“Polls show that the majority of Americans, more than 65% of Americans, including 80% of them Democrats, want a ceasefire,” the congresswoman said at a press conference in Washington.
Tlaib, the first legislator of Palestinian origin to be elected to Congress, was censured by the Lower House for her comments about the war that Israel is waging in the Gaza Strip.
The US House of Representatives voted on November 7 in favor of censuring the legislator, andn a measure that obtained 188 votes against and 234 in favorincluding the support of 22 congressmen from the Democratic party, to which Tlaib belongs.
“We are calling for an end to violence, not a cessation of violence. The humanitarian pause is not enough. President Biden, I hope you are listening,” said Tlaib, a Democratic congresswoman from Detroit.
Last October, a group of US Democratic congressmen introduced a resolution calling on Joe Biden’s Administration to request a ceasefire and facilitate de-escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The text is promoted by legislators Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, André Carson, Summer Lee and Delia Ramirez, from the left wing of the Democratic Party.
With the presence of other legislators and a group of rabbis wearing a white t-shirt with the slogan “Rabbis for the ceasefire”Tlaib noted this Monday that “the path to peace must include addressing the root causes of our conflict and ending the blockade and occupation.”
“There is nothing humanitarian about giving innocent civilians a four-hour break before being bombed. We are calling for an end to violence, not a cessation of violence. The humanitarian pause is not enough. We will not be intimidated, we will not be silenced” , he claimed.
“I know that the extremist government of (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is now saying that Israeli forces would assume responsibility for the security of Gaza for an indefinite period of time. That is not a security issue,” he stressed.
The legislator added that “perpetuating an illegal occupation that will not lead to a just and lasting peace.”
“Forced displacement, displacement of Palestinians, began, as everyone knows, 75 years ago. The occupation has been ongoing for more than 56 years,” he added.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also called for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza area and thanked the Jewish Voice for Peace organization for its support, which, As he said, “he has a legitimate role in this dialogue” of peace.
“Thank you to our rabbis who have joined us. Thank you to Representative Rashida, who has stood as the only Palestinian-American woman in the history of the United States, and has been censured for standing up for her humanity. We will not allow that discourage us,” Ocasio-Cortez remarked.
Israel’s air, ground and naval forces have kept the Gaza Strip under fire since October 7when the war against Hamas broke out after a massive attack by the Palestinian Islamist group in southern Israel that left some 1,200 dead and more than 240 kidnapped.
Since then, the impoverished Palestinian enclave has accumulated more than 11,180 dead, 28,200 injured, 3,000 missing and more than 1.5 million displaced.
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