|
Pro-Palestinians Rally Outside Pro-Israeli Lobby Meeting
 |
| Pro-Palestinian demonstrators crowd Connecticut Ave. in front of hotel where AIPAC meeting
held. |
By Jamshed Bokhari, IOL Washington Staff Writer
WASHINGTON, April 23 (IslamOnline) - Capping four days of protests in Washington, pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Monday gathered outside the Washington Hilton where the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gathered for their annual convention, featuring former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
In terms of political contributions to politicians, AIPAC members constitute the most influential pro-Israeli lobbying group and possess a tremendous impact on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
Well before the official start time, a large crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators began rallying for the Palestinian cause. With helicopters constantly hovering overhead, police, some dressed in riot gear, others in regular uniform, also arrived early and maintained an over 500 strong presence monitoring the events.
Referring to the plight of Palestinians under siege by Israel, signs read, “End the Holocaust,” and “Stop making the Palestinians pay for Hitler’s crimes.” People all chanted what became the main theme of the weekend protests, “Free, Free Palestine,” and “Long Live the Intifada.”
 |
| Riot police and demonstrators face off during anti-AIPAC
protests |
Mona Eldahry, of Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition, said the demonstration was a united movement involving other organizations such as ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and SUSTAIN (Stop U.S. Tax Aid to Israel Now).
Eldahry commented that the most immediate concern in the U.S. for the Palestinian issue was the need for fair and unbiased reporting in the media.
“The media needs to stop targeting [Palestinian] bombers as ‘suicide bombers,’” she commented, pointing out that “suicide bombers are the same as bombs dropped out of a plane” and that Israeli tanks, helicopters and guns are no different than the tactics used by Palestinians.
Amer Jubran, an al-Awda activist from Rhode Island, said, “There are people who love Palestine and will defend it by any means provided within this system [U.S.].”
Commenting on pro-Israeli arguments concerning the right of Jews to establish Israel, Jubran said, “The holocaust can in no way make up for the injustices being done in Palestine.”
In a sign that the Palestinian cause has spread beyond that of Muslim organizations in the U.S., a diverse group of organizations gathered together to voice their support for a free Palestine, including remnants remaining from protests against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings, and representatives from both secular and orthodox Jewish groups.
Daniel Lang-Levitsky from the New York-based Jews Against the Occupation said they were present to show support for the Palestinian people and to send a message to AIPAC to, “not act in our name in Sharon’s occupation.”
Asked to comment on the opinions of the Jewish community in the U.S. and their support for the occupation, Lang-Levitsky said, “Official institutions [representing American Jews], are, for the most part, lined up behind the Israeli government, no matter who the government is,” and speculated that American Jews “could be for peace if the [Israeli] government was for peace.”
Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Freimann, of the Neturei Karta International, an orthodox Jewish group believes Zionism has nothing to do with the Jewish religion. He states that Israel is not a Jewish state, because the very existence of Israel goes against Judaic religious beliefs.
Freimann said, “The issue is coming out in the open. People are seeing the lies of Zionism,” and added that he “hoped and prayed the Palestinian issue would be settled peacefully” with the eventual setting up of a “kosher Palestinian state.”
The Neturei Karta International was in “solidarity with the Palestinian people to get a Palestinian state,” he said.
Towards the end of the demonstration, close to when the permit expired, a major clash with police was avoided as anti-globalization protestors remaining from IMF and World Bank protests earlier in the day tried to provoke the police into charging the crowd.
Pro-Palestinian activists, however, seemed to intervene and managed to convince both protestors and police to back down, and violence was avoided.
|
