Doborah James of Global Exchange being arrested at State Department during pro Palestine demonstration.

By Neveen A. Salem, IOL Washington Correspondent 

WASHINGTON, April 6 (IslamOnline) – As more rallies calling for an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands take place across the U.S. Friday and Saturday, Americans arrested in Friday’s demonstration in front of the U.S. State Department are still recovering from spending almost 14 hours in a Washington D.C. jail. 

Although some media reports asserted that the protestors arrested at 2:00 p.m. Friday afternoon were released within an hour of their incarcerations, IslamOnline spent roughly 14 hours at the Washington D.C. jail with the 22 protestors, as many of them remained in holding cells well into the early hours of Saturday morning. 

Three Catholic activists even chose to remain in jail so that the bail money needed to ensure their freedom would not go towards further funding the Israeli occupation. 

The protestors were brought to the jail in 2 police wagons, separated by gender and handcuffed. The 10 women were escorted into the prison first, and were searched, stripped of their belongings and jewelry, photographed and escorted into 2 holding cells as the 12 men were also booked on charges of “incommoding” or “civil disobedience” (a time honored tradition used by American demonstrators to voice their dissent on issues of concern). 

Most were held late into the evening and well into the next day as they waited for their fingerprints to return from an FBI database search, which IslamOnline was told by officers at the jail is standard procedure in order to ensure that none are wanted on any outstanding warrants that would cause them to have to be booked on additional charges. 

The protestors spoke to IslamOnline as they posted bail and finished reclaiming their belongings, with the earliest protestor being released over two hours after arrest; they were then released in roughly two or three hour intervals, with most being released over 10 hours after being charged. 

Each asserted that they felt it was necessary to engage in civil disobedience and risk arrest in order to call attention to the deadly repercussions of the illegal Israeli occupation and to the fact that the aggressions against the Palestinians are being funded by U.S. taxpayer money. 

Deborah James, a human rights activist with Global Exchange - and co-organizer of the protest that brought demonstrators to the State Department to call for an end to the U.S. funded Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people - told IslamOnline that she felt civil disobedience and the risk of arrest had to be considered in order to send a message to the U.S. government. 

“Innocent people are being killed. Does it matter what nationality they are or does it matter [more] that they are innocent lives?” James asked. 

Another woman came from as far away as New York in order to show her support for the Palestinian people. 

Dawn Sweet, who works with an organization called the Peacemakers told IslamOnline that she came to the protest and risked arrest “so that people in the U.S. would perhaps start to understand how their tax dollars are being spent to fund the Israeli occupation and the violence against the Palestinians.” 


“They [American taxpayers] are paying for the occupation of Palestine with $3 million per day,” Sweet continued. After being released she headed towards downtown Washington to catch a train back to New York City in order to attend another event in support of the Palestinians, as a simultaneous rally saw over 1,000 New Yorkers marching in Times Square Friday night in support of the Palestinian people. 

Those arrested also included heads of major human and civil rights organizations from across the country. Also arrested was Ted Lewis, the organizer of the event and the Human Rights Director of the California-based Global Exchange. 

Lewis asserted that with the escalation of Israeli aggressions over the past week, it was necessary to risk arrest because merely demonstrating would not have been enough. 

“It was not possible [now] to just protest and raise our voices against the aggressions,” he stated. “We had to raise visibility to an issue that we believe so strongly in…there is no question in my mind that the level of violence against the Palestinian people must be brought to the attention of the U.S.” 


Kate Turner also asserted before leaving the jail late Friday that she was strongly opposed to the Israeli occupation and the current U.S. foreign policy in the region. 

“I believe the U.S. is alone internationally in its support of Israel,” Turner said. 

“ I am happy with [U.S. President George W.] Bush’s speech last Thursday…and happy to see some opposition, finally. But I don’t think that the speech was enough. The U.S. must accept the Saudi proposal endorsed at the Beirut Conference, and the Mitchell and Tenet plans need to finally be implemented.” 


She also called on Arab leaders to have a “unilateral condemnation of all suicide bombings and stop calling them ‘martyrs,’” stressing that too many people have died and that there should be a movement towards ensuring that no more blood is shed. 

Another protestor, who asked to remain anonymous, said that it was necessary for the protestors to risk arrest in order to “show that there is a growing American population opposed to terrorism in any form, even state-sponsored terrorism on the part of Israel.” 


Also arrested were three prominent pro-Palestinian activists from the Washington D.C. area, including Joshua Ruebner, executive director of Jews for Peace in Israel and Palestine (JPPI), Raeed Tayeh, national office director of American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice (AMGPJ) and Margaret Zaknoen, programs director of American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ). 

Ruebner told IslamOnline that he felt it was necessary to undertake Friday’s actions in order to “send a clear message to decision makers in this country that there are growing numbers of Americans of all religions that are fed up with Israel’s occupation and our government’s funding of it.” 


Zaknoen also echoed the sentiments of her fellow demonstrators but took her statements further and challenged the U.S. to live up to its word to “root out terrorism” by beginning with the state-sponsored acts of terror committed by Israel and supported by the U.S. 

“Losing my freedom for a few hours is a smile price to pay to show that Palestinians are not only being deprived of their freedom but of their basic right to live due to the aggressions being aimed at them by Israel,” Zaknoen stated. 

“ I challenge the U.S. to ‘dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism’ by dismantling the [Israeli] occupation, as that is a prime example of terrorism.” 


Tayeh was unavailable for comment as he remained incarcerated at the time of this report.