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"Palestine Is Bleeding" - March On U.S. State Department
by Ayesha Ahmad
WASHINGTON, May 21 (IslamOnline) - "Fund education, not occupation!"
"Fund health care, not warfare!"
Rallying cries that have become familiar to Washington area Muslims protesting the deadly violence in Israel echoed among the buildings of George Washington University Friday as several hundred Muslims of different backgrounds marched together through the streets of the nation's capital.
The rally and march, organized and sponsored by the Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), began around 11 a.m. in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, and took the protesters through a route differing from past marches.
This march one intended to make an impact on students and faculty at the University by emphasizing the injustice of American taxpayer-funded government support for the Israeli army's actions against Palestinians.
Friday was graduation day at George Washington University and the marchers drew considerable attention from bystanders with their chants and banners.
After making the Friday jum'uah prayer at Lafayette Park, they marched behind a large green banner with the Arabic phrase "La ilaha ill-Allah" (there is no God but God) painted on it in white, carrying flags and signs protesting the Israeli army's violence and its occupation of Palestinian lands.
Some held up poster board signs bearing the names and ages of Palestinian civilians who have lost their lives to the violence that started last September.
Gina Costante, a graduate student in international education at George Washington University, was standing outside the university's Funger Hall when the protesters marched by. "There are a lot of Jewish students at this school and today is graduation day," she said, commenting that the protest might arouse strong feelings among the Jewish families present for graduation. "But I'm for shaking people up," she added, "so it doesn't bother me."
Making such an impact was one of the goals of the march, said organizer Abdul-Haleem Al-Ashqat of Dar al-Hijra. "We were trying to achieve four objectives," he said, "[two of which were] to expose and protest Israeli aggressions, and to expose and condemn the Israeli government's calls to Jews to pray in al-Aqsa."
By marching to the U.S. State Department, he added, they also hoped "to shape American foreign policy," and to educate people about the Palestinians' dispossession of their lands 53 years ago this month.
In front of the State Department, Imam Mahdi Bray of MPAC directed the attention of the crowd to a letter intended for Secretary of State Colin Powell, demanding that the U.S. government reassess its policies regarding the situation in Israel. The letter, drawn up by MPAC members, stated:
"We deliver this letter to you to urge you bring U.S. policy into accord with U.N. resolutions, international law, and the global consensus: self-determination of Palestinians; an end to the Israeli occupation and the dismantlement of settlements; a sovereign, and territorially and economically viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and Israeli recognition of the right of refugees to return to their homes."
Bray asserted the right of American Muslims to make these demands. "We're the Muslim-American community… we are Americans and we demand that this government, which is our government, do the right thing," he said. "We're not ashamed to hold up the name of God!"
Saleh Musairat, from the Washington Islamic Academy, felt that the ultimate success of the protest might not be as far-reaching.
"We don't think there will be any immediate impact on U.S. foreign policy," he said. "People organize these rallies for two reasons - one, to show support, and two, to show the American decision-making people that American Muslims are opposing the injustice."
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