Open letter to PM Netanyahu says controversial settlement expansion could be 'final blow to a peaceful solution'

Washington, DC - More than four hundred US rabbis, cantors, rabbinical students and cantorial students are expressing grave concern about Israel's plans to advance the construction of settlements in the controversial E1 area of the West Bank and authorizing thousands of new housing units in East Jerusalem.

Earlier this month the Israeli government announced plans to advance the construction of settlements in the E1 area of the West Bank, as well as to authorize the building of thousands of new settlement units in East Jerusalem.

Last week we alerted you to an anti-peace, anti-Palestinian letter in Congress, urging you to contact your Member of Congress and ask them not to sign on. That letter has now been held open for signatures through the end of this week - a development that means that your activism is working, and the letters' backers are having trouble getting large numbers of members to sign on.

If you already contacted your member of Congress on this issue, thank you! If you didn't, there is still time!

Last week, in a resounding vote of confidence for the two-state solution, the UN voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of "non-member observer state."