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Protestors Give Small But Staunch Statement Against Sharon's U.S. Visit
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| Orthodox Jews from Neturei Karta International protesting against Sharon’s visit |
By Ayesha Ahmad, IOL Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (IslamOnline) - A small but staunch crowd of about 150 demonstrators gathered at Freedom Plaza in the nation's capital on Thursday to protest the fourth visit of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the White House.
Although the crowd was sparse, the cold rain did not hold back the passion of protestors carrying placards denouncing Sharon and shouting, "No justice, no peace!" Some demonstrators carried a large banner declaring "War Criminal Sharon Must Be Tried" across 14th St., drawing honks from passing cars.
Protestors and speakers denounced the welcome given to Sharon by U.S. President George W. Bush, citing the Israeli Prime Minister's responsibility in the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila camps. A group of survivors from the massacre are bringing charges of war crimes against Sharon through the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
It was moderated by Mahdi Bray, political director for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), which helped organize the event. The program included speakers from a range of different backgrounds.
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| MPAC's Mahdi
Bray speaks out against Israeli occupation and illegal settlements |
Most visually striking was the presence of several Orthodox Jews from Neturei Karta International, a Jewish group opposed to Zionism. Their members, dressed in black and white and wearing black hats and long side curls, often make a presence at Arab or Muslim-organized protests in Washington against Israeli occupation.
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, the group's spokesman, said that Zionism was a century-old atheism-based ideology that was opposed to true Judaism, a "spiritual entity" spanning thousands of years of history. "God put us in exile," he told IslamOnline, explaining his belief that Jews are forbidden to have a homeland until the coming of the Messiah.
Neturei Karta's statement, which Rabbi Weiss read to the crowd, states unequivocally that "the solution to the seemingly never ending war in the Middle East is… the placing of the entire land - including Jerusalem and al-Aqsa - under Palestinian rule."
The Orthodox Jewish group had its own protest around 1:30 Thursday afternoon in Washington, with hundreds of members expected, according to Rabbi Weiss.
Although the extent of their solution was not the same as other speakers', their message about the conflict was the same: "Let there be no more innocent victims, neither Palestinian nor Jew."
Fifteen-year-old Cherine Foti, a student at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Washington, D.C., spoke to the small crowd about the importance of youth support and understanding of the Middle East conflict.
She said that after speaking to other students about the issue, she realized, "The fact that Sharon is a war criminal never occurs to people… Who would tell them?"
Foti said that if up to 400 Israeli soldiers - who have refused to serve in the Occupied Territories because of the crimes they see committed - could recognize the truth of what is happening there, "how can such a large population of our country not realize it?" She expressed her hope that "false ideas [will] wear off" as young people take action.
Damu Smith, of the organization "Black Voices for Peace", told the crowd that his group was formed after September 11 to ensure a platform for black voices on a range of issues, with one particular focus of the group being "to oppose Israeli policy in the Middle East… to oppose Israeli occupation, to oppose illegal settlements."
Smith exhorted listeners to stand up for the truth. "Anyone who has followed the issue… knows what the Israelis are doing. We cannot be afraid to speak truth to power. We must continue to tell the truth about what's going on," he said, emphasizing the responsibility of American taxpayers to know where their money is going.
Other speakers included a spokeswoman for the Washington Peace Center, and MPAC's communications director, Sarah Eltantawi, who read from a letter written by Israeli twelfth-graders to Sharon expressing their refusal to serve in the Israeli army they were soon to be drafted for.
Protestors also reflected the diversity of support for Palestinians. One participant, an American woman who heard about the protest from an Arab friend, said that she wanted passersby to see that it wasn't only foreigners or Muslims who supported the Palestinian cause.
"I think it's important that they see the other point of view," the woman, who identified herself only as a "government employee," told IslamOnline, adding that the diverse group of protestors would also make an impression. "Americans need to see that other Americans oppose the occupation of Palestine."
The woman said that Sharon's visit "speaks very loudly for the American position that [they and Israel] are completely unified in rhetoric, in a seamless sort of relationship… I think the Bush administration regards Israel as the fifty-first state."
On Sharon, the woman said, "I think we should spirit him away to The Hague."
Margaret Zaknoen, programs director of American Muslims for Jerusalem, came to the protest carrying her own sign and said she wanted to urge the president to affirm his vision of an independent Palestinian state to Sharon.
"Yesterday on Capitol Hill, Secretary [of State Colin] Powell reaffirmed American support for an independent Palestinian state," she said. "I'm here to urge President Bush to let Ariel Sharon know that America supports an independent Palestinian state."
"The government has allowed its policies to be dictated by special interests, and that's why our government supports Israel," she added. "The American people are a justice-loving people… I don't think [they] support the Israeli occupation."
Another participant, Imam Abdul Alim Musa, of Washington’s Masjid al-Islam, echoed her sentiments.
"The American people - if they really understood, if they were saturated with the truth, if they knew the human suffering and pain… they would be against it," he said.
Imam Musa said that it was important to get the message across that racism was dying. "Racism… oppression is a thing of the past," he said. "The Zionist state has to move into the present, and realize that all the [racist] regimes of the past, Rhodesia, South Africa, Hitler… all of them went by the wayside.
"The Zionist state, as long as it practices exclusion and racism, will eventually fall by the wayside."
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