Dec. 6, 2017
American Friends of the Parents Circle – Families Forum, in the name of 600 Israeli and Palestinian families who have all lost children, sisters, brothers, parents, husbands and wives to a conflict which should have ended long ago, strongly opposes President Trump’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital today and the movement of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. This is not the way to peace, Mr. President.
The members of the Parents Circle, who have paid the highest price of the conflict, know very well the cost of violence. Bassam Aramin, a bereaved Palestinian father, whose daughter was killed in front of her school in the outskirts of Jerusalem says, “We have killed each other in the name of the love of Jerusalem, but we who understand the consequences of the violence, understand that when we meet each other under the ground, the only winners are the graves.”
Rami Elhanan, a 7th generation Jerusalemite, and bereaved Israeli father who lost his daughter, Smadar in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem says, “Not one Jerusalem stone is worth even one drop of blood of one little girl.”
The Parents Circle is committed to dialogue and mutual understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. The consequences of your decision are dire: you are ruining the last vestige of hope we have to prevent further bereavement, by placing another nail in the coffin of peace.