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Washington Joins Muslim World On Jerusalem Day
by Jamshed Bokhari
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - Demonstrators in Washington, DC, joined Muslims worldwide in commemorating Jerusalem (al-Quds) Day with a rally in Lafayette Park in front of the White House.
Separating the demonstrators from the presidential residence were preparations and stage construction for the upcoming presidential inauguration on January 20th.
Fighting back a chilling wind bringing already frigid weather into the fahrenheit teens, turnout for the rally and Jumuah (Friday) prayers numbered close to 500 participants.
Denouncing Israeli occupation of Jerusalem and sacred Islamic sites therein, the Israeli state’s excessive use of force in the current Aqsa Intifada and lack of progress in the establishment of a Palestinian state, demonstrators braved bone-chilling weather to show their support for both an Islamic Jerusalem and the Palestinians.
Holding Palestinian flags and signs and placards with images of the Judaic star equated with Nazi Germany’s swastika and stating, “Stop Funding Israel,” “$84 Billion In Aid And Counting…” and “Israeli Occupation of Palestine is Immoral and
Inhuman,” rally participants released their frustration concerning U.S. foreign policy in the region.
W. Madhi Bray, President of the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations in the Washington area and one of the main organizers of the event here, addressing reasons for the rally said that it was “imperative considering the type of oppression and aggression that our brothers and sisters in Palestine and Occupied
Jerusalem are under.”
Al-Quds Day “is something that has been going on for, I believe, between 20-22 years all over the world, and it’s happening right now all over the world.”
Bray’s observations concerning the origin of Jerusalem Day refer to when the late founder of Islamic Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, first conceived it after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“With the naked aggression and killing of our brothers and sisters in Palestinian, we are also here in solidarity to show our support.
“It’s a very small thing that we can do, but it’s the least that we can do, as Muslims and people of conscience,” he added.
Addressing the weather and the turnout, Bray said, “We’re out here in the cold, but can you imagine the cold and brutal situation our brothers and sisters in Palestine,” are enduring?
Before Jumuah prayer, podium speakers reminded rally participants that Muslims in Jerusalem were being denied entry into al-Aqsa mosque to perform their required Islamic obligations by armed Israeli forces, and that four Palestinians had died in clashes during the day.
Jerusalem Day is observed each year on the last Friday of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Muslims in various countries hold the event yearly.
This year, and on the same day as the Washington rally, demonstrations were also held in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and in the Occupied Territories.
Hundreds of thousands demonstrated Friday in the streets of Tehran, Gaza City, Damascus, Beirut and Tyre commemorating the day. Calls for the "demise of Israel" and the "liberation of the holy Muslim land of Palestine" were heard throughout the various cities.
In Iran, usually dueling reformist and conservative leaders of the regime were unified in their resentment of the Israeli state, its policies, and its occupation of the holy city. The leaders jointly labeled Israel as a "cancerous tumor".
And in Lebanon, more than 100,000 Hezbollah supporters gathered to watch a parade staged by fighters of the Shiite Muslim militia in southern Beirut.
After the rally, participants then marched to the State Department and presented resolutions demanding that the U.S. government end sending financial aid funded by U.S. taxpayers to Israel.
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