Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 2009, page 58
Waging Peace
“End the Siege of Gaza” Rally at Israeli Embassy
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“OCCUPATION is a crime,” said Brian Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition. He spoke, under a cloudy sky, at a spirited rally in front of the heavily fortified Israeli Embassy in Washington,DC on the afternoon of Saturday, June 6, 2009, the anniversary of Six-DayWar. Becker continued: “That’s why we’re here. The people of the United States are spending, through our tax dollars, $15 million a day for a criminal occupation. Instead of killing poor people in Gaza and in the West Bank, let’s use that money for education, and housing and health care to let children live, not only in Gaza, but right here in Washington, DC.”
Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (MAS Freedom), stated, “As American citizens we do not want another tax dollar to go for this type of oppression toward women and children. This must end. We have the capacity right here...in this nation to end the siege of Gaza. We can do that. We must end the siege of Gaza...On July 4, 2009, in New York City...We will be taking a caravan from New York to Egypt...to Gaza. We are saying ”˜let Gaza live!’ We don’t care what it takes. We are going to bring food...medicine...and supplies [to Gaza] because it is, indeed, the right thing to do.”
The rally, which also included a march from the Israeli Embassy of about 300 activists, down Van Ness St. and along Connecticut Ave., was sponsored by the ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society (MAS), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), National Council of Arab Americans (NCA), and Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition, among others.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a highly respected civil rights attorney, said, “We stand with the people of Palestine. We fight with the people of Palestine. We know that they will resist. They will never give in. And, we will always be with them. And, we will win. They will win...We and the people of Palestine will overcome and succeed. Free, free Palestine!”
“We cannot allow our President [Barack Obama] to back down from the Israeli lobby or from the Zionist pressure that undoubtedly will come against him,” argued MAS Freedom activist Ibrahim Ramey in his remarks to the crowd. Ramey explained, “The president did say that the occupation [of Gaza] is immoral, is unconscionable and that the current situation of the people of Palestine cannot be tolerated.”
This writer spoke with some of the other human rights activists at the rally. Ray Gordon told me: “No more money for Israel. It’s a disgrace. We give Israelis $3 billion a year and they disrespect us. They spy on us. They lie to us and it has to end. Israel is not our friend. We’re suckers for Israel and it needs to stop.” Eric Anderson underscored that what is going on today in Israeli-occupied Gaza is not only unfair, but it adds up to “genocide...and a war crime.” David Barrows insisted that “no one group should be favored over another. That’s got to stop in this world.”
—William Hughes
[To watch two videos on this rally, filmed by William Hughes see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjV3JrLmAqY&feature=channel_page and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP96ZAB-UfU&feature=channel.]
