29 January 2020

“This plan threatens to make the occupation of the Palestinian territories permanent”

Responding to the news that the Trump Plan enables, encourages, and facilitates annexation in the West Bank that hands Israel’s future to the radical settler right, NIF Australia executive director Liam Getreu said:

“We want to see a democratic, equal, and just Israel. Today, the Trump administration is offering Israeli officials and the radical settler right a free pass to march in the opposite direction: toward a future of unending injustice and inequality.

“This plan threatens to make the occupation of the Palestinian territories permanent. If it becomes reality, there will be no two-state solution. This will cripple Israeli democracy by putting Israel in permanent control over the lives of millions of Palestinians who will have no right to vote for their own future. This is not the vision of Israel’s founders. It is not the vision of those of us who love and care about the state of Israel.

“The choice that has been available to Israel since 1967 remains clear: Israelis must choose between Israel’s Jewish character, its democracy, and its control over the Palestinian territories. Israel can choose two, but not all three. No unbalanced presidential edict disguised as a ‘peace plan’ will obscure this choice and no Israeli government will escape it.

“We call on the Morrison government to continue Australia’s long-standing support for a two-state solution and reject the Trump Plan.”

For further comment please contact Liam Getreu at [email protected] or 0413 374 401.

The New Israel Fund is a partnership of Israelis and supporters of Israel worldwide, dedicated to a vision of Israel as both the Jewish homeland and a democracy for all its citizens. Our community promotes freedom, equality and social justice by funding Israeli non-profits and fostering new discussions in the Australian Jewish community.