I hope you are doing well.

I’m writing to share important updates and J Street’s recent statements.

In case you’ve missed any of J Street’s statements or recent webinars, I encourage you to take a look at J Street crisis response page. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions about any forthcoming legislation.

I’m also happy to share that J Street is hiring for a registered lobbyist position – please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested.

Best,
Hannah

—
Hannah Morris
She/Her
Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 832-606-1817
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page

This week on j street

ISSUE BRIEF

ACHIEVING ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE IN THE WAKE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

STATEMENT

AS HUMANITARIAN PAUSE NEARS END, US MUST DEMAND CHANGE IN ISRAELI TACTICS AND MUST NOT PROVIDE A BLANK CHECK FOR NETANYAHU

SHUSHAN STREET

AS ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR RAGES, URGENT SITUATION IN THE WEST BANK ALSO REQUIRES US ACTION

Fighting resumes in Gaza as ceasefire officially expires

Fighting resumed in Gaza early Friday local time after Hamas and Israel failed to announce an agreement on extending the ceasefire before it expired. The renewed fighting comes after a seven-day pause during which Hamas released more than 100 hostages, including two Americans, and Israel released 240 Palestinians from Israeli jails. Israel also allowed more aid trucks and fuel into Gaza to help address the dire humanitarian crisis. Sirens went off in southern Israel a little over an hour before the ceasefire was set to expire, with the Israeli military saying it intercepted one rocket fired from Gaza. Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire by firing toward Israeli cities. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had resumed its operation against the militant group in Gaza in response. Israel renewed its air strikes on Gaza, including in some areas in the south, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been sheltering after fleeing their homes in the north… The resumption of fighting is likely to deepen the humanitarian crisis in the enclave. While humanitarian groups welcomed the increased amount of aid allowed into Gaza during the pause, they warned it was only a fraction of what was needed.

Blinken’s conversations with Israeli leaders were the toughest to date and, by his account, resulted in concrete assurances that they would change how their war is waged against Hamas, the group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7… Blinken gave no details of the Israelis’ assurances, though he said the United States wants them to designate safe zones for civilians to gather, to allow displaced Gazans to return north to their homes, to avoid significant further displacements and to try to spare critical infrastructure such as hospitals. Blinken, who is on his third trip to the region since the Hamas attack, appeared to reflect what has become a tenuous balancing act for the Biden administration as it attempts to show support for Washington’s closest Middle East ally even though top U.S. officials are increasingly uncomfortable with the hardfisted way Israeli forces are engaged in combat. He also has sought to advance discussions about what happens in Gaza after the fighting stops, a looming question that continues to sharply divide officials in Washington and Israel.

The Biden administration has informed Israel that Washington will impose visa bans in the next few weeks on Israeli extremist settlers engaged in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, a senior State Department official said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have let them know that the United States will take its own action against an undisclosed number of individuals… The United States has repeatedly expressed its concern over the rising violence in the West Bank, saying it must stop. U.S. President Joe Biden, in a Nov. 18 Washington Post opinion piece threatened to take action against the perpetrators. The State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Washington wanted Israel to prosecute perpetrators but had yet to see such a step. The bans could come in the next few weeks, the official said.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and the elation over the prisoners’ release have deepened support for Hamas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority has administered cities and towns for more than two decades. Gaza, the other Palestinian enclave, has by contrast been controlled since 2007 by Hamas, a militant group. Now, as many in the West Bank fear the war could spread to the occupied territory, some believe Hamas and other armed groups are the only ones they can trust to protect them. The Palestinian Authority — which is controlled by the Fatah political faction — is deeply unpopular and widely seen as a subcontractor to the Israeli occupation. Long-simmering frustrations with the authority’s leadership and accusations of corruption have been exacerbated in the past year by an uptick in violence by Israeli settlers… Pollsters and analysts caution that support for the group is limited to a minority of residents and tends to rise temporarily during conflicts in Gaza. But with fears that a wider war could break out in the West Bank, many say the growing support for Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel and other countries, has taken on a new dimension. There is a growing sense that people need protection and they “don’t have any alternative,” said Ghassan Khatib, director of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, which specializes in research and opinion polling. “The only game in town is Hamas.”

The war in Gaza will end, one day. Right now, Hamas still holds 149 hostages, nearly all Gazan civilians are living through a humanitarian catastrophe, none of the most senior Hamas leaders have been held accountable for the October 7th attack, and there is no obvious diplomatic off ramp to this war. Despite this bleak reality, when the shooting stops the long road of rebuilding Gaza will begin. This war has already ignited generations of grievances among Israelis and Palestinians, but it also may provide a green shoot of hope for a more optimistic future. The distinction will depend on Gaza’ reconstruction. Before rebuilding Gaza, the U.S. administration will have to forge a consensus between Palestinians and Israelis on four fundamental questions. First, who will govern Gaza? Second, how will Israel ensure security so Gaza is not used as a platform for terror again? Third, who will pay for reconstruction? Finally, even if the Israelis and Palestinians can forge a political agreement on the future of Gaza and there is sufficient funding, how would reconstruction practically work?

Neither Washington nor Tehran wants the conflict in the Gaza Strip to trigger a wider war in the region, officials in both capitals say. But in the seven weeks since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Iranian-backed militias have launched more than 70 rocket and drone attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon, for its part, has responded with four rounds of airstrikes, killing as many as 15 people, U.S. officials say. National security officials fear a miscalculation amid tit-for-tat attacks, combined with each side’s belief that the other does not want a larger fight, could trigger exactly that: a regional conflict, just two years after the United States ended 20 years of war in the Middle East and South Asia.

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | December 1, 2023

This week on j street

What we’re reading

Fighting resumes in Gaza as ceasefire officially expires

Israel agrees to ‘clear plan’ to protect civilians in Gaza, Blinken says

U.S. to impose visa bans soon on Israeli extremist settlers for West Bank violence

In the West Bank, Release of Prisoners Deepens Support for Hamas

Opinion | Who Will Govern Gaza? Who Will Rebuild It?

A U.S.-Iranian Miscalculation Could Lead to a Larger War, Officials Say