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Chicago Jews To Hold Vigil In Support Of Palestinian Struggle
by Dina Rashed
CHICAGO (IslamOnline) - A Jewish group calling itself “Not In My Name” (NINM) will be holding an eight-night vigil/celebration of the Jewish Chanukah in downtown Chicago starting today in solidarity with Palestinians right of independence.
According to the Jewish tradition, the vigil will start at sunset Thursday at the Chicago Tribune Plaza on Michigan Avenue across from the Israeli Consulate.
NIMN members will light a human Menorah for each day of Chanukah, calling for an end to the violence and killing on all sides, but particularly calling on the Israel Defense Force to stop its use of excessive force against a largely unarmed Palestinian population, said the group.
Because Chanukah commemorates the Maccabees' struggle for religious and
political self-determination, NIMN has chosen to mark the parallels between the Chanukah story and that of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination by commemorating the current effort to carve out a just peace in the Middle East, just as the Maccabees fought for in 164 BC.
“This year, as we celebrate our freedom, it is important to recognize that Palestinians also are engaged in a struggle for their own liberation. This struggle has been clouded and distorted by violence for the last 50 years, but it surely must be clear to all that Palestinians want and deserve their own freedom to live in peace, in their own homes, under their own authority,” the group said in its statement.
With the lighting of the Menorah each night, the group intends to remember years of events they see as milestones in the Middle East struggle since the creation of Israel.
On the first night they will commemorate the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, known as The Catastrophe, or Al Nakba, to Palestinians. Night two will be 1956: the Israeli campaign (coordinated with France and Great Britain) against Egypt in the Sinai. Night three is 1967: the Six-Day War, and beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Night four is 1973: the October War, or Yom Kippur War, marking the first sustained offensive attack on Israel since the 1947-48 war. Night five is 1982: the war in Lebanon and the beginning of the occupation of southern Lebanon. Night six is 1987: the beginning of the Palestinian uprising, or Intifada. Night seven is 1993: the beginning of the Peace Process with the signing of the first Oslo accord. And night eight will be 2000: the current wave of violence and uprising, called the al-Aqsa Intifada.
On each night they will follow an American Jewish tradition of opening a wrapped gift box only to find it empty except for the names of hundreds of Palestinians and other Jews who died during the current clashes.
NIMN was founded in Chicago following the massacres of Palestinians during the current al-Aqsa Intifada, and represents independent Jews who do not share the uncritical support for the Israeli government of the mainstream American Jewish community, which they feel will do more harm to the Jewish values.
They hope they can promote awareness within the American Jewish community encouraging its members to object strongly to the Israeli government's treatment of, and current negotiating stance towards, the Palestinians; and to examine their position on the current crisis in particular, and blind support for Israeli government.
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