JUSTICE AND AID: "For Palestine"

You can email Representative Chris Pappas here.

April 23, 2020

The Honorable Kelly Craft

Ambassador of the United States of America

799 United Nations Plaza

New York, NY 10017

Dear Ambassador Craft:

As COVID-19 pandemic numbers continue to rise, we write to seek your assistance in the effort to restart U.S. humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, including UNRWA. As you know, the pandemic has now reached the Gaza Strip with cases beginning to inexorably rise in a place with few resources to combat the outbreak. Coupled with the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, the pandemic now poses an unprecedented global health emergency.

We agree with Ambassador Chalet’s recent remarks to the UN Security Council that the current crisis has resulted in close coordination between Palestinian and Israeli health officials that serves as a “model of collaboration and cooperation.” It is important that we empower these public health officials, who are deliberately putting themselves in harm’s way for the common good, by providing them the resources they need to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. government has funding available through its Migration and Refugee Assistance and Economic Support Fund programs for immediate obligation to address this deteriorating humanitarian situation. The administration need only obligate these funds - their use requires neither additional legislative language nor supplemental appropriations. 

These funds could be put to instant use supporting the public health response, including the 3,300 health care workers staffing 144 UNRWA health clinics that are now on the front lines in combatting this pandemic. UNRWA is working closely with host authorities and the World Health Organization with triage care and protocols in place to identify patients with respiratory symptoms. This funding could also support the six facilities comprising the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, as well as U.S. NGOs engaged in health work.

Thank you for your consideration. We hope you can assist in making these potentially life-saving funds available for immediate obligation.

Signed,

Representatives of Congress

  

--------------------------

Here is the action step to take today: reach out to the staff (in whatever way you can reach them) of your Congressional Representatives asking for the Representative to join the letter! The deadline for sign-on is tomorrow, April 23! 

EMAIL CONGRESSMAN PAPPAS HERE!

Here is some sample language for emailing and/or calling your Representative’s staff or office. Be sure to attach the text of Rep. Dingell’s letter when you email the staff. 

I hope you are holding up all right during this difficult time. I'm writing to ask Representative Pappas to sign on to Congresswoman Debbie Dingell's letter to US ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft, calling on her to restart US humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, including UNRWA. 

The deadline for signatures is April 23 and you can get in touch with Tim Huebner at Rep. Dingell's office (timothy.huebner@mail.house.gov) to sign on. I have attached the full letter to this email. 

The Trump administration is sitting on $75 million in Congressional directed aid to Palestinians and has only released $5 million. This is unacceptable at any time, but especially as COVID-19 puts Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank and Gaza at such dire risk.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you on whether Rep. Pappas will add his name. 

--

  

Current signatories on Dingell Gaza letter - thank them and engage them on going further!

Jared Huffman
Raul M. Grijalva
Bonnie Watson Coleman
Bobby L. Rush
Peter Welch
Betty McCollum
Ilhan Omar
James P. McGovern
Ruben Gallego
Mike Doyle
Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr.
Mark Takano
Jamie Raskin
Seth Moulton
Andre Carson
Pramila Jayapal
Alan Lowenthal
Diana DeGette
Rosa DeLauro
Jahana Hayes
Sean Casten
Don Beyer
Dwight Evans
Peter A. DeFazio
Mark Pocan
Jan Schakowsky
Barbara Lee
Tom Malinowski
Ro Khanna