Gaza Demonstrations

Demonstrators call for end to bombing in Gaza

ILLINOIS

Thousands jam Warren Ave. to make their feelings known
By Jason Carmel Davis , Press & Guide Newspapers Press&Guide dot com

DEARBORN - Huge gusts of wind and chilly temps on Tuesday didn't deter several thousand demonstrators from marching, chanting, honking horns and waving flags, signs and banners across a long stretch of Warren Avenue in East Dearborn that started at Chase and moved to Schaefer.

The large, peaceful group gathered in protest of Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip that have killed several hundred people in the last week, according to United Nations figures. Those in attendance could be heard — by the large number of vehicles that stopped in the area — yelling out several chants, including "Bring free Palestine," "One, two, three, four, stop the killing, stop the war," and "Bush and Olmert, you can't hide. You are guilty of genocide."

"This is a call for justice and a call for peace," said Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Several local and national groups are also urging concerned parties to contact elected officials with the hopes of ending the war, as well.

"This whole war has been very ugly and what the people of Gaza are facing is true genocide," said Hamad, who added the crowd was one of the biggest he has seen for a protest.

Following Tuesday's gathering, a number of special events have taken place in protest of the fighting. A prayer and memorial service took place Thursday at the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights. A candlelight vigil took place Friday outside Dearborn City Hall, as well.

Dearborn Police Department Special Events personnel did not return calls from the Press & Guide Friday requesting information about the size of Tuesday's crowd.

For the last two years, Israel has imposed an economic siege on the more than one million Palestinians living in Gaza. Humanitarian organizations have long warned of impending disaster in Gaza, where Israel has prevented food and fuel from entering and people are starving to death.

"We call on the current and the incoming American administrations to take immediate action to prevent any more deaths of innocent civilians, by starvation and by bombing," said Congress of Arab American Organizations Spokesman Osama Siblani.

"The United States stands alone in the world in its unconditional support of Israeli aggression and genocide, and that is inexcusable. The economic siege should be lifted now, adequate food and fuel allowed in to warm and feed the people and all military aggression against this civilian population stopped immediately."

Following the outside protest, about 600 of the protestors gathered inside the Byblos Banquet Hall, 7258 Chase, for a memorial service. All of those in attendance hoped to attend the service, but the size of the hall prevented that, Hamad said.

It isn't just the Arab-American community supporting the stoppage of the fighting. Massachusetts-based American Jews for a Just Peace issued a statement Dec. 28 saying it strongly condemns the Israeli invasion of Gaza as a cruel and barbarous attack upon a captive civilian population.

"Israel justifies its attack as a defensive response to Hamas rockets fired into Israel," the statement read. "While the firing of Hamas rockets into civilian areas is not a justifiable response, the reality is that those rocket attacks were provoked by Israel's own violation of the cease-fire in early November, before it expired, when Israel mounted a series of unprovoked attacks against Gaza that killed six Palestinians.

"As American Jews, we are compelled to oppose these violations of widely held and agreed upon rules of ethical conduct by Israel — and by the U.S., in complicity with it."

One of the protestors in attendance, Mohammad Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, likened what is going on in Gaza to the Holocaust. He said what Israel is perpetrating is "stupid aggression."

"What people have been seeing on TV every day is unacceptable, with babies dying and people being without food and water," Elahi said. "Something has to be done about what these criminals are doing. There has to be justice."

Contact News Editor Jason Carmel Davis at (734) 246-2652 or jadavis@heritage.com.
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TEXAS

Protest the Israeli invasion of Gaza!

WHEN: Sunday, January 4, 2009 from 3:00-6:00 PM

WHERE: Galleria area in front of Starbucks (on the corner of Westheimer and Post Oak) 2521 Post Oak Blvd Houston, TX 77056,

WHY: A peaceful gathering to protest the Israeli military assault on Gaza
SPONSORED BY: Houston Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (HCJPP)
*** 713-240-9766, info@hcjpp.org ***

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=43411812565
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WASHINGTON DC

LET GAZA LIVE!
Stop the U.S./Israeli War
Against the Palestinian People

National March on Washington
Saturday, January 10
Assemble at the White House (north side) at 1:00 PM

Tens of thousands have marched across the country.
Above: Chicago, January 2

Sponsoring organizations: ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom, Free Palestine Alliance, American Muslim Task Force, National Council of Arab Americans, Al-Awda - International Palestine Right to Return Coalition, and hundreds of others