Thousands support Palestinian right of return
By Richard
Becker
New York
Thousands of people from across the U.S. marched and
rallied on April 7 in New York in the second Palestinian
Right to Return demonstration. The 6,000 participants doubled
the size of the first Right to Return protest, which was held
in Washington, D.C. last year on Sept. 16.
The protest demanded that the 780,000 Palestinians
expelled to make way for the state of Israel in 1948 and
their descendants be allowed to return to their homeland.
Nearly 5 million Palestinians now live in exile.
The demonstration also called for the establishment of a
true Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli Mission to
the United Nations at 42nd Street and Second Avenue for an
opening rally and then marched to Union Square. Organized
contingents of Palestinian-Americans and supporters of the
Palestinian cause came from many cities in the U.S. and
Canada.
There were seven buses from Massachusetts, eight from
Washington, D.C., five from Chicago, and more than 50 people
from California. The strong and organized presence from many
campuses and cities reflected the growing strength of the
Palestine solidarity movement over the past six months, since
the second Intifada uprising began.
Among the speakers at the rallies were Wakim Wakim, leader
of the Abna al-Balad (Sons of the Land), a militant
organization of Palestinians living inside the 1948 borders
of Israel. Wakim spoke by telephone hook-up from Nazareth.
Also addressing the rally was Palestinian scholar Edward Said
and International Action Center representative Sara
Flounders.
A rousing message from Dr. George Habash, a central leader
of the Palestinian struggle for more than 40 years, was read
to loud cheers from the crowd.
While ignored by most of the national corporate media, the
Right to Return march was widely covered by New York
television and radio stations, local newspapers and
progressive media.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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