Haaretz: Why is MP Bowman pressuring Biden to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine?

Since taking office in 2021, US Democratic Representative Jamal Bowman has prioritized the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and his interest in the conflict reached a new level last week after he issued a letter signed by US senators and representatives urging the administration of US President Joe Biden to change its policies towards Israel.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Sunday, Bowman said the United States must do something about the conflict in the same way it has played a key role for many years in funding Israel and supporting its right to defend itself and continue as a state.

Bowman believes that silence about what is happening to the Palestinians under the yoke of Israeli occupation is unacceptable, and that the US president should intervene and not be silent about the issue, and urged that the issue of the two-state solution should not be limited to talking only without concrete steps.

"There is an urgent need to make policy changes, exert pressure, and build relationships until we get to a point where Israelis and Palestinians can all live in peace and justice," he said.

In the interview, Bowman spoke about a visit he made as part of a congressional delegation to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in November 2021, noting that he drew a lot of information from that visit that enabled him to see and experience the occupation up close and personally, and he wanted to act on this matter since returning from that visit.

"I had the opportunity to meet with Israeli and Palestinian activists who have been fighting for many years to end the occupation, end settlement expansion and ensure a two-state solution," Bowman said, "I met with Israeli and Palestinian scholars, and I spoke to former IDF soldiers who told me what they were doing in Palestinian homes."

"I was personally stopped several times at several checkpoints by soldiers carrying rifles who appeared to be as young as 20, and that experience was a turning point for me," he said.

Bowman said he returned from that visit with a strong sense that the U.S. president must intervene to reach a peaceful and just solution that ensures that the two-state solution initiative is backed by force and achievable.

At the end of his interview with the newspaper, the US lawmaker pledged to continue his efforts that support peace and love for all.