Roundup of protests, meetings about Palestine
Special to
Workers World
The new Palestinian uprising or Intifada and the attempt
by the Israeli military to repress it with brutal force had
its impact within the United States during the third week of
November. By Nov. 20, some 243 people had been killed in the
West Bank and Gaza, almost all of them Palestinians shot by
Israeli troops or settlers, and 8,000 people were
wounded.
On one side, to reinforce U.S. control of Middle East oil
wealth, the Clinton administration asked Congress Nov. 14 to
approve a last-minute, $750-million Middle East military and
economic aid package.
The package includes $450 million for Israel. For public
consumption, these funds are supposed to help support its
withdrawal of troops from southern Lebanon. But it comes in
the midst of the uprising against Israeli colonial rule on
the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel is dependent on U.S. economic, military and
diplomatic aid. In return the Israeli state will strike out
at any liberation movement that threatens U.S. imperialist
interests.
The aid package includes $225 million in military
assistance to Egypt, a less stable U.S. client state, and $75
million for Jordan.
On Nov. 6, Clinton had already signed a foreign-aid bill
that increased the funds sent to Israel.
In addition to this governmental aid, Israeli officials
were in the United States trying to raise funds from
supporters here. This presented an opportunity for those who
wanted to show solidarity with the embattled Palestinians.
And they took it.
Chicago
Three thousand protestors turned out on a freezing night
Nov. 13 to protest an appearance by Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak in Chicago. Palestinians and other Arabs from
Chicago and nearby cities were joined by up to 400 supporters
in a spirited and militant demonstration.
Police attempted to confine the demonstration in a parking
lot surrounded by an eight-foot iron fence, on the opposite
side of Harrison Street from a United Jewish Communities
"gala" where Barak was speaking. But hundreds of protesters
climbed over the fence and confronted mounted police in a
block-long line.
Scores of youths, some waving Palestinian flags, stood on
the top rail of the fence, climbed into trees or scaled
traffic lights to shout: "Free Palestine! Barak is a
murderer! End the occupation now!"
Religious and community organizations in Chicago's Arab
community came in over 20 chartered buses. A dozen Jewish
protestors with signs like "Indiana Jews say end the
occupation now" and "I am Jewish and the Israeli government
is not my mouthpiece" took a prominent place at the front of
the protest.
Many progressive organizations built for the action,
including the Chicago Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, the
Eighth Day Center for Justice and Voices in the Wilderness.
One banner read, "Left Queers for a Free Palestine."
As the action progressed, demonstrators pressed through
police lines onto Racine Avenue and contested every foot of
space. They shoved metal barricades back inch by inch and
briefly climbed onto massive dump trucks parked in the
intersection of Racine and Harrison as a roadblock. "It's
like a checkpoint in Palestine," said Hatem Abudayyeh of the
Arab-American Action Network, which initiated the
demonstration.
One organizer reported, "A cop asked me, 'Can't you
contain these young Palestinians?' I told him, 'It hasn't
worked in Nablus and Ramallah.'"
New York University
The following afternoon at New York University in
Manhattan, young Palestinians organized by Al-Awda, the
Palestinian Right of Return Coalition, and their supporters
confronted two Israeli Defense Force soldiers who were
speaking at NYU as part of a tour around the U.S. The youths
walked into the meeting and, after putting on scarves and
clothes that showed what side they were on, began to pose
questions that put the Israelis on the defensive.
The two soldiers tried to claim that the Israelis used
only rubber bullets, which were "like tennis balls." The
Palestinian youths set the record straight before they were
forced to leave.
Outside a large group, with voices loud and signs high,
demonstrated right in front of the building. They chanted,
"IDF, what do you say? How many kids have you killed today?"
When the Israeli soldiers tried to leave, two demonstrators
managed to confront them, calling them "murderers."
Buffalo, N.Y.
International Action Center Co-director Brian Becker told
a multinational audience of 50 people in Buffalo, N.Y., Nov.
14 that progressives everywhere need to support the
Palestinian people's right to self-determination.
Becker stated that the Palestinian uprising against
Israeli occupation, as well as the struggles of the people of
Iraq and Yugoslavia, are part of the movement against U.S.
and western imperialism. He also said that the worldwide
movement against corporate globalization, the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank must link itself to the
international struggle against imperialism.
Workers World Party organizer Ellie Dorritie, Palestinian
community activist Taher Abdellatif and Ezo from the Buffalo
Activist Network also spoke.
Eyewitness reports coast to coast
IAC organizers who made a fact-finding and solidarity trip
to the West Bank and Gaza Oct. 28-Nov. 2 have been speaking
at meetings around the country about their experiences. They
witnessed the Intifada and Israeli repression.
West Coast IAC Coordinator Richard Becker and Los Angeles
Coordinator Preston Wood spoke in Los Angeles Nov. 4. Becker
spoke Nov. 5 at the IAC office in San Francisco and Nov. 17
at Sonoma State University in Santa Rosa, Calif. The
following evening, he shared the platform in San Diego with
local activist Ruba Fakhouri. He was scheduled to speak Nov.
21 at Mission College in San Jose.
On the East Coast, IAC Co-director Sara Flounders and
Al-Awda's Randa Jamal have been speaking on campuses and at
community meetings. They were in Boston for an IAC meeting on
Nov. 5, then spoke at Sarah Lawrence College in the New York
suburbs on Nov. 7.
They spoke at the IAC office in New York on Nov. 14. Other
meetings were held in Philadelphia on Nov. 15, organized by
the IAC, and at nearby Swarthmore College on the same
day.
The IAC eyewitnesses were scheduled to speak at a meeting
of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee on Nov. 25
in Philadelphia, at the University of Maryland on Nov. 28 and
at the University of Delaware on Nov. 29.
For information on scheduling an IAC speaker for your
school, union or group, call (212) 633-6646 or send e-mail to
iacenter@iacenter.org.
Ellie Dorritie in Buffalo and Lou Paulson in Chicago
contributed to this article.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS
:: SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page