A PLEA FOR PEACE: A Palestinian supporter calls for an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza during a Dec. 30 protest outside Israel's permanent mission to the United Nations. PHOTO BY: Lina Ejeilat
More than a thousand pro-Palestinian activists gathered in front of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday evening, protesting Israel’s bombing campaign against Gaza, which has left more than 370 Palestinians dead and 1,700 wounded.The spectators covered the sidewalk of the entire block at the corner of 42nd St and 2nd Ave; at the opposite corner of the street, a much smaller pro-Israel counter-protest was held in support of the Jewish state's military action against Hamas.
At the pro-Palestine demo, spectators chanted in both Arabic and English, waving Palestinian flags and carrying colorful placards. The phrases “Olmert, Olmert, What do you say? How many kids have you killed today?” and “Viva viva Palestina,” among countless others, were chanted in unison.
“This is enough, they need to stop killing,” said 47-year-old Palestinian poet Fareed Bitar, who lost four family members during the first intifada and whose family currently lives in Gaza. “They are confined to the house with no food, no medical supplies, nothing. We’re human beings, not animals. What Israel is doing is illegitimate. It’s a war crime.”
The crowd swelled and remained boisterous well into the evening. Tens of police officers surrounded the area, cordoning off the protesters and demanding that passersby move swiftly along.
Verbal insults were hurled at both protests, as the chanting infuriated some passersby. “You should be ashamed of yourself! Stop the ethnic cleansing!” screamed one man, as he walked by the pro-Israel demo.
“Finally Israel has done something to prevent Hamas from firing into southern Israel,” said Daniel Klein of Stand With Us, the organizer of the counter-protest. “We believe that if Hamas were to lay down their weapons there would be peace tomorrow." This was the first pro-Israel rally organized in New York City since the siege began on Saturday. On the same day, similar rallies took place in Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The pro-Palestine demonstration, however, was the third of its kind in New York City; on Sunday, between 1,500 and 2,000 spectators gathered in front of the Rockefeller Center, marching to the Israeli consulate, and on Monday over 1,000 marched from Herald Square to Bryant Park, staging a symbolic funeral procession for Gaza’s dead. There have been worldwide protests against the siege, from Beirut to Sana’a and from London to Berlin.
Tuesday’s demo brought together the ANSWER Coalition, the Muslim American Society NY, Free Palestine Alliance, National Council of Arab Americans, and Al-Awda NY and Al-Adalah NY, among other solidarity organizations and Palestine supporters.
Young Arab men wearing the kuffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf and symbol of resistance, could be seen protesting next to anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews. “We are here to show to the world that the Zionists do not represent the Jews,” said Joel Eidlise.
Spectators also charged the U.S. with implicitly supporting the bombardment by standing firm in its support of Israel and for having provided the state with US-made F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters. “It is obvious that America is a staunch supporter of Israel, and I completely disagree with that. I think it’s very unfair how Palestinians are painted in the media as terrorists and militants and really they’re just innocent people trying to survive,” said Monna Shahna, one spectator.
Pamphlets from various movements were handed out, including a petition to be sent to the United States House of Representatives, which demands that the US condemn the war in the strongest terms and that it uphold the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War.
Though both rallies were necessarily political in nature, some at the pro-Palestinian protest instead stressed the humanitarian aspect of the conflict. “Gaza has been an open prison for months,” said Majaid Ali, an environmental engineer, referring to a two-year blockade that has left Palestinians with a severe shortage in medical supplies, electricity and food. “Condemning the massacre of the innocent civilians is the minimum that we can do, to express our solidarity with the victims. I hope that it makes a difference.”
Several other pro-Palestine rallies are in the works, including one that will be held at Times Square on January 3rd.
Comments
Israel is the biggest global irony - it's people rose from oppression to become oppressors themselves. It didn't take them long to forget under what conditions they escaped Hitler. Palestenians embrased them as their own when no other country wanted to. But when a country breaches a treaty and builds a wall, beyond what really belonged to Israel, by breaking interanational law, no man of any faith or nationality will accept it.
Israel wants land, nothing more, and with generous funding from around the world, it wants to destroy anyone who speaks of Israel's injustices. Israel pursues supremacy, not democracy! Israel, ironically, is Hitler reincarnated - his paranoid tendencies and his genocidal determinations have been manifesting themselves for a very long time. And just like Hitler occupied Poland, Israel occupied Gaza. But even Hitler showed restraints. Mercy, at times. World had great sympathy for all the Holocaust survivors, but one begins to question the actions of the sons and daugthers of those people who make Gaza the new Auschwitz. Four Isreali lives is not equal to 400 Palestenian lives. If Israel does not see that difference, they never knew suffering.
I am really SO tired of hearing the ADL repeat the incantation that if one protests against Israel's blood-letting raid both above and inside Gaza, that that individual is in reality an anti-Semite. Zionists have hidden behind this allegation ever since the Holocaust. While most people deplored the destruction of the Jews, so too do we who supported Israel then deplore the murder now of innocent civilians in both Lebanon and Gaza. Is it Godly or even manly to attack with such force a small, densly populated area whose population has no air force, army, munitions, or equipments other than stones and perhaps small arms, to fend off the attack? To me, this is an act of supreme cowardice. Israel sits there rich with a supply of everything it needs to fight any enemy, including an arsenal of nuclear bombs. Who is kidding who here? Murder is murder whether committed by Hitler or those within the Israeli government. NO religion condones murder. One might also remember that the Bible states that it is the meek, not the powerful, who shall inherit the earth.
I would want to know if there is any rally in nyc against the massacres in GAZA.
THANKS
Saba
I can not agree your comment more. As a Jew myself, I am ashamed of what is happening in these lands for the last 40 years. I can not believe how human beings can turn into evil!
I think Israels response is way too much.
Islam is a cancer on humankind. Muslims contribute nothing to civilization exept death and destruction. Look what is happening all over the world today - not just to the Israelis. Look what Mulims did in Russia (massacring innocent schoolchildren) and Mumbai, India (killing hundreds of innocent civilians) and Bali (where they bombed hotels and restaurants to kill as many civilians as possible) and Afghanistan (murdering 34 schoolgirls just this past week). Just look what they do to each other! Like any cancer- Islam must be removed before it kills its host: the civilized world. WAKE UP! ISLAM IS THE ENEMY OF MANKIND!
The hypocrits rule the day. Where was the outrage by the Islamists and all their friends when trains were bombed in Madrid and London? when hotels and resturants were blown up in Bali? Just a couple of weeks ago when Islamist terrorists deliberately targeted and murdered hundreds in Mumbai, India? Where were the street demonstrations, the condemnations of the UN and the Vatican? Where were the riots and the editorials calling for an end to Islamic fanaticism and terrorism? Whereas Israel wants merely to live in peace and be left alone, the Islamist terrorists do not make any secret of their intentions to destroy Israel completely. They make no secret that they deliberately target civilians to inflict as much carnage as they possibly can. They make no scret of their desire to inflict their barbaric Sha'ria Islamic 'law' on the entire world. Where is the outrage against this Islamic barbarism??
Hypocrits, indeed!!
I was witness to this disgusting riot in New York. They left the streets as filthy as some of their beliefs. Many gathered on 58th street by CNN. Seems they have a problem with them also. Who do they not have a problem with? I think it is low self esteem and low self worth. What else can you suspect when they hide half their population behind bed sheets? A people of invalidation should not be surprised when others invalidate or marginalize them. Personally I hope the fighting ends but it is NOT out of respect for the Muslim "culture", a culture that old that has progressed so little. Islamic law? The two word should not be put together. A degenerate law from a low degenerate culture. How dare these people denigrate so many and expect to be taken seriously when they cry in the streets for "peace". What delusional psychosis can these people be under to actually hold their head up and claim any moral imperative? A 'moral' imperative that allows sexual abuse of children, rape of women (oh yeah I hear the denials already now, if she has what 100 witnesses and is not alone she could maybe claim rape), imprisonment of women, persecution of homosexuals by death (Oh yes Mr Iranian president you do not have many gays there do you?), religious repression of any other faith and the list goes on and on. Yes, every culture has a bad side but thank God most are not as absolutely insane as this. To all of this I am glad they protest. I am even glad they can use the tax payers money to do so because each time they do they lose more and more support because people see their contorted faces, read their signs and see the bed sheets that are allowed to do no more for entertainment than spread hatred and shout slogans. I have never been a very 'proud' American. I was wrong. I am proud today after seeing this side show. They may think us idiots for allowing their carnival to continue but it shows a great people that allow freedom of expression. The freedom to exist, to grow, to chose and become who and what you want or are.
That's so funny. My Jewish mother married a Muslim man and seemed to do quite fine. He was the enemy of doing dishes, but I've met people with worse problems.
Whenever you read this kind of nutso Zionist ranting, if it confuses you – just replace "Islam" with "Jewish" and you have Hitler in the 21st Century. I hope the supporters of Israel keep running off at the mouth just so everyone gets it through their head what Israel is about.
From the river to the sea.
Really???so do muslim babies bomb and kill people?are Palestinians a cancer to society? Do you enjoy looking at children with missing legs and arms? oh I forgot...jewish power does not allow most countries to be exposed to the TRUTH! Jewish people took lessons from the best.. unfortunately though, they are much worse than the Nazis or Hitler. They believe that they are superior and above anyone else, the chosen of God, why did your God leave you without a country and you had to start an ETHNIC CLEANSING to find a land????
'Man hands on misery to man...'
Is this what is to happen to humankind? A downward spiral, a vicious cycle that perpetuates and knows no end. Don't we think it is a shame? Can't we co-exist? I attended a talk in Manchester, United Kingdom where a Jewish Rabi and a Muslim Shekh sat side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Both were on an overseas tour promoting peace that propagated from the grass roots level. I wish you were there, It was a beautiful sight in the true sense of the word. Meanwhile, there have been demonstrations and even an occupation this side of the Atlantic. Manchester University students occupied a room in campus for 30 long days and nights. We were provided with some live entertainment from Flobots who made the arduous journey all the way from Denver and who graced us with their presence.
I remember when I was in Boston during the war in Lebanon in 2006 reading a headline in a local publication that went along the lines of, 'The tears that Jewish and Muslim children shed are one and the same.' These words resonated. From a religious point of view are we not all the Children of Adam? And for those who believe in the Selfish Gene, is it not the moral fibre that binds us all together? But we cannot surely claim that religion is reprehensible for man's inhumanity to man, can we?
Yes, there is a dark side to the human condition. What we observe without us is surely a reflection of what is within. Why do we even frame our thoughts on forums like these? The written word undeniably possesses an extra-ordinary power. Let us promote a message of peace, live in harmony with one another, put our differences to one side and let our actions give credence to what we profess.
I am not at liberty to judge the actions of others. Injustice I know can breed wrath and with wrath comes violent tendencies. Justice must be served and this, in turn, is a pre-requisite for peace. What is the way out of this quagmire? I hope that someone can come up with an answer sooner rather than later. As a Lebanese Muslim living in the West, I am grateful for the opportunity that has been given to me and for the freedom of speech in particular that has been granted.
God bless. And if you don't believe in Intelligent Design, than live long and prosper.
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