Protest at pro-Israel banquet
5,000 people came out April 22 to confront the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee, which was meeting in the
Washington Hilton, and cap a weekend of protests in Washington.
A coalition of Palestinian and Arab groups, including the Arab
American Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Muslims for
Jerusalem, Al-Awda (Palestinian Right to Return Coalition), the
Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the
Free Palestine Alliance-USA sponsored the protest.
AIPAC is the major lobbying group -- with a $12 million
budget and 60,000 members -- seeking to get the U.S. government
to strengthen its ties to Israel, according to its press
releases. Three former Israeli prime ministers -- Ehud Barak,
Binyamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres - and U.S. Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke; 90 members of the House of
Representatives, 45 senators, and a number of top White House
staff attended its banquet April 22.
The protesters, waving Palestinian flags and chanting "free,
free Palestine," made it clear that the real issue is ending
U.S. support of Israel and ending the U.S. presence in the
Middle East.
--photo and story by G. Dunkel
Reprinted from the May 2, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
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