Our Guiding Values & Policies to Protect Our Commitment to Justice & Human Rights

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is a national grassroots organization representing a diverse array of Muslim and Palestinian voices in the United States who are united in the pursuit of justice for Palestinians in and outside of Palestine. Our shared values reflect a commitment to democratic, social, economic, and political freedoms for all as we advocate for that same freedom in Palestine. While each AMP chapter may differ slightly, we work to ensure that all who represent our organization adhere to our core values and commitments. 

In the cause of justice, we are allied with a wide range of U.S. racial and social justice organizations who co-host events, co-convene task forces, and collaborate with us on campaigns, such as the campaign for a ceasefire in Gaza from 2023 through 2024. That said, we cannot always control who shows up at our events, be they rallies, protests, lectures, or teach-ins, and not all who show up may represent our values or positions as an organization. 

Below are AMP’s core values and commitments in our work toward Palestinian liberation based on the principles of human rights for all:

• We believe that justice is possible – and that it is rooted in accountability for the crimes against humanity that the Israeli state has done, an end to U.S. complicity in those crimes, a guarantee of the right of return for Palestinian refugees as declared by UN Resolution 194, an end to apartheid law from the river to the sea, full self-determination and equal rights for Palestinians, and the preservation of religious rights for Muslims and all faiths in the Holy Land of Palestine. 
• We believe in using the civil tools available to us as Americans to protest injustice abetted by our government and our tax dollars. These tools are like the ones many justice movements before us and presently allied with us have used, such as: boycotts, demonstrations, protests, rallies, vigils, letters to elected officials and leaders, media pressure, storytelling, grassroots organizing for direct action or worker action, litigation for civil and human rights, among others. 
• Members of our grassroots base will sometimes take autonomous action for civil disruption in the tradition of our civil rights heroes; we believe the right to free speech, including economic disruption, is a time-honored way to compel an apathetic public to engage with an issue affecting minority groups or those dehumanized by US or Israeli policy and media erasure. These practices must align with the rest of our principles for peaceful activism towards the creation of just systems of governance in the U.S. and around the world. 
• We do not tolerate hate, bigotry or violence. We seek to address and condemn all such instances of hate as part of our fundamental mission as an organization.
• We do not support hateful violence or misinformation; the Palestinian cause is rooted in truth-telling and confrontations with oppression that wield a higher standard for human rights, equality, and justice than Palestinians have been afforded. 
• We uphold human rights as defined by the Geneva Conventions as fundamental rights due to all people, especially as they are often denied to Palestinians and other oppressed groups. 
• We understand Islamophobia as an epidemic of anti-Muslim racism which is fueled by harmful rhetoric and dehumanizing foreign policy and warfare. Anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim racism are intertwined and weaponized to oppress Palestinians; this racism appears in both individual and systemic ways. We work every day to counter this bigotry, including by leading with our values as an organization of diverse Muslims and Palestinians. In that vein, we also oppose any representations of us as monolithic and do not speak on behalf of all Muslims or Palestinians. 
• We are a Muslim organization, not an Islamic organization. This means that we are made up of Muslims with a wide range of beliefs and cultural values. We are not rooted in a specific theological vision for freedom, but instead are guided by the shared Muslim value of standing up against injustice everywhere and of preserving the religious rights of Muslims in the Holy Land and at the second holiest site for Muslims: Al-Aqsa Mosque. In the same vein, we are guided by Muslim values of compassion, charity, and magnanimity to our neighbors and people of all faiths or backgrounds.
• We are committed to democracy and diplomacy as a pathway toward peace. We believe freedom of speech is a fundamental component of that commitment.
• We do not speak on behalf of Palestinians in Palestine or any political groups whether here in the United States or abroad; we are independent of any political party. 
• We do not endorse or advocate for any form of legitimate resistance, meaning resistance in accordance with international law, that the Palestinians may resort to against the occupation and injustice practiced against them. In the same vein, we do not believe that it is our role to dictate to Palestinians what they should do or to condemn Palestinians for resisting the illegal occupation and theft of their land, the murder and kidnapping of their families, the apartheid system that renders them unequal before the law, and other forms of oppression they face under military occupation or even as citizens of the Israeli state. 
• We have a policy of non-normalization with organizations or individuals that actively support the Zionist project of colonization and ethnic cleansing in Palestine. 

As a policy, we adamantly disavow any breach of these values as actions which do not represent us as an organization or our vision for freedom, dignity, and respect for all. We actively assess and address any instances of individuals misrepresenting or contradicting these values. Our path towards justice is guided by love for the people and places of the Holy Land; bigotry has no place in our movement, and the only hate we tolerate is for injustice itself.