A group of Democratic lawmakers are calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to put pressure on the Israeli government to halt the displacement of 38 families living in the Palestinian village of al-Walaja.
Residents of al-Walaja, an agricultural village west of Bethlehem, have been legally barred from building new homes since Israel annexed the village’s northern section in 1967. Today, more than 300 residents whose homes were constructed without permits are set to lose them, warned the letter to Blinken led by Reps. Jan Schakowsky, David Price, Jamie Raskin, John Yarmuth and Mark Pocan.