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Pro-Palestinian Protestors Arrested at State Department
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The protestors,
representing a diversity of groups had planned to risk arrest to
demonstrate their concern for U.S. role in the ongoing conflict.
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By Ayesha Ahmad and Neveen A. Salem, IOL Washington Staff Writers
WASHINGTON,
April 6 (IslamOnline) – Roughly two dozen protestors in a crowd of
more than 150 other demonstrators were arrested on Friday in front of
the U.S. State Department for civil disobedience during a rally
against the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas and what
they described as biased U.S. foreign policy regarding the Middle
East.
The
protestors, representing a diversity of groups including Muslim,
Christian, Jewish and secular activist organizations, had planned to
risk arrest to demonstrate their concern for the U.S. role in the
ongoing conflict.
“We
called for this demonstration in order to… press the U.S.
administration to take a balanced approach in the Middle East,” said
organizer Ted Lewis of the Global Exchange human rights group,
speaking at a press conference across C Street NorthWest from the
State Department before the arrests.
“The
U.S., because of its aid to Israel, is complicit in what is going
on.”
Damu
Smith, chairman of Black Voices for Peace, which organized a sizable
rally the day before in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington,
was even more blunt with his criticism.
“We
are deeply concerned about the crisis in the Middle East that has
reached a fever pitch, we believe, as a direct result of U.S.-Israeli
policy,” Smith told reporters.
“The
Bush Administration gave the Israelis a green light to do what they
are doing,” he said. “It is an incredible sinister game that the
U.S. and Israel are playing with the lives of Palestinians.”
“We
must stop this unbalanced, one-sided, pro-Israeli policy… You
don’t get 1,500 Palestinian dead because a country has exercised
restraint.”
Stanley
De Boe, Justice and Peace director with the Conference of Major
Superiors of Men, told reporters that while “the cycle of violence
must be stopped on both sides,” the U.S. bore a responsibility to
ensure an end to Israeli occupation.
“While
yesterday’s comments by the President are welcome, they are late,”
he said, referring to President George W. Bush’s remarks on the
Middle East given Thursday morning.
“It
can only happen if Israel not only withdraws from its current
occupation… but they have to withdraw from the settlements
completely,” De Boe said. “Without an end to the occupation,
Israel will not have security.”
Joshua
Ruebner, executive director of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel,
emphasized the diversity of the Americans opposed to U.S. Mideast
policy.
“There
is a growing movement of Americans of all religions, of all
backgrounds, [demanding from America] a policy that respects the needs
and aspirations of all people,” he said.
Margaret
Zaknoen, director of programs for American Muslims for Jerusalem
(AMJ), responded to Bush’s assertion that Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat needed to decide whether he would side with the U.S. or
with terrorists.
“I
say to President Bush that we have to choose whether we’re with or
against the terrorists,” Zaknoen said. “I agree that he should
‘dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.’ The occupation is
terrorism.
“I
want to ask Secretary [of State Colin] Powell to please not ask the
Israelis to be ‘compassionate’ at checkpoints, because there is no
[such thing as a] compassionate checkpoint. There is no benign
occupation.”
Bush
announced on Thursday that he would be sending Powell to the region
next week; one of the statements Bush directed at the Israelis was
that “the Israeli government should be compassionate at checkpoints
and border crossings, sparing innocent Palestinians daily
humiliation.”
Many
among the two dozen protestors who planned to risk arrest wore signs
slung with black string over their shoulders like shields over their
fronts – white poster paper on a black background, each bearing the
name and identification of one Palestinian or Israeli who has been
killed in the surging violence.
As
they gathered and prepared to march, the protestors knelt for a prayer
led by the Reverend Graylan Hagler of the Plymouth Congregational
Church in Washington.
The
protestors marched – preceded by cameras and other media – down
the sidewalk, across C Street, and then back towards the State
Department entrance on the other side of the sidewalk, where
protestors are not allowed to march.
Police
blocked their passage about halfway up, forming a double line across
the sidewalk, so the protestors sat down on the sidewalk and began to
sing songs of freedom.
“We
shall not be moved – just like a tree that’s standing by the
water, we shall not be moved,” they sang, among other songs
demanding “no more killing in my name.”
A
Palestinian woman standing behind the protestors soon drew attention
because she was crying; moved to sobbing by her emotions, she cried
out to the crowd, “Stop this massacre! Oh God, somebody stop it!”
and called for aid to be sent to the children who have no access to
water and the people “bleeding in the streets, dying, bleeding.”
The
interaction between the protestors and the police was very cordial;
Lieutenant J.D. Herold with the D.C. Metropolitan Police warned them
three times over a period of fifteen minutes that they would be
arrested if they did not move as opposed to immediately arresting
them, as the police have the right to do.
Herold
told IslamOnline that this was standard procedure; after the third
warning, he said, protestors are officially under arrest.
“The
police department is here to facilitate the demonstration,” he said.
“It is not our intention to arrest anybody.”
The
police were aware beforehand that the protestors intended to be
arrested; Herold said of this civil disobedience that “This is
America, that’s what we’re all about.”
After
the fifteen-minute period, the protestors were handcuffed with
plastic, flexible cuffs, searched and led to the wagon which would
take them to the police station; media reports afterwards said that
they were held for about half an hour, after which those who were able
to produce proper identification and post $50 in bail money were
released.
However,
IslamOnline was granted exclusive access to the prison, remaining with
the prisoners until they were released, and reported that the
protestors were held for over 14 hours, with at least three being held
past 4:00 a.m. the next (Saturday) morning, after being arrested at 2
p.m. Friday afternoon.
Twenty-three
individuals were arrested, Herold said; when asked by IslamOnline if
the size of the police presence – about 40 to 50 officers – had
anything to do with the protest being pro-Palestinian, he said, “Oh,
absolutely not,” emphasizing that police presence always had to do
with the size of the demonstration and potential for violence.
One
demonstrator who remained across the street as the protestors were
being handcuffed said she was glad to see non-Muslim, non-Arab
Americans getting involved enough to risk arrest, and praised the
media attention.
“I
think the more attention it gets, it’s better for the cause,” said
Janine Ali, a Palestinian-American with family members living in
El-Bireh, next to Ramallah, who are caught in the rising crisis.
Ali
said a 15-year-old cousin of hers, who was born and raised in
Michigan, had been taken by Israeli soldiers on the morning of March
29; no one has yet heard of his whereabouts. Her father-in law, also a
U.S. citizen, is sick but cannot leave his house, she said.
“They’re
all in a really scary, very scary time right now,” she said.
Ali
stressed that the Arab world had come together against the Israeli
invasions in an unprecedented way. “I hope Bush can control it
now,” she said. “Just get Israel out of Palestine.”
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