New York March 27: Protest to defend Jerusalem

Protest called to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Quds (Jerusalem)

Times Square, W 42nd St. and 7th Avenue

This Saturday, March 27th, a coalition of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim groups and supporters from a wide range of social movements will mobilize to protest recent attacks and threats by the Israeli regime against Al-Aqsa Mosque and the residents of Al-Quds. The protest has been called by Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, Arab Muslim American Federation, Islamic Center of NJ, Muslim Public Affairs Council, US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN-NY), International Solidarity Movement, New York City Labor Against the War, Labor for Palestine, and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

On March 14th Israeli police and soldiers raided Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, arresting many Palestinians praying inside, and barred most worshippers from entering for prayers in the following days. There are fears this is the prelude to an even more serious attack.

In the days following, thousands of Palestinian youth protesting throughout the West Bank and Gaza were met with tear gas and rubber bullets. Over 100 Palestinians were injured and at least 60 detained.

These attacks are part of stepped-up land grabs, and repression and violence against those resisting ethnic cleansing. The Zionist government recently declared that two sites sacred to Muslims, Masjid Bilal bin Rabah (Rachel’s Tomb) and the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs), were now on the Jewish “heritage” list, meaning possible Muslim worshipper bans or desecration. Excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque have threatened the stability of the Mosque’s foundation.

In addition:

* The oldest Palestinian cemetery in the world, Mamilla Cemetery in Al-Quds, is under threat of desecration.
* Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Al-Quds were recently expelled from their homes, and on the very day Netanyahu met with Obama and told him construction in Al Quds would not stop Israel announced it would build more homes for settlers in Sheikh Jarrah.

o Right-wing Jews have been handing out Arabic fliers in Al-Quds calling on “non-Jews to leave the land of Israel,” which “belongs to Jews only.”

Events in Al-Quds come in the context of increasing repression throughout Palestine. Israeli occupation forces sealed off the entire West Bank on March 11th and imposed a full curfew until March 16th. Four youth were murdered in cold blood during protests in Nablus the following weekend. Detention without charges of leaders of protests against the Apartheid Wall have mushroomed, as have night-time raids on homes, even detention of children. Weekly protests challenging the blockade and “no-go zones” in Gaza are met with violent repression and arrests. And the Israeli Knesset set a new record last year for the number of explicitly racist bills introduced.

Palestinian Christians also face restrictions and oppression as well, including being barred from holy sites in Jerusalem during Holy Easter Week, inspiring church leaders to issue the “Kairos Palestine-2009” declaration, an appeal to churches worldwide to boycott Israel.

Meanwhile the mainstream media’s attention is focused on the staged diplomatic spat between Washington and Tel Aviv over the announcement by Israel, made during US VP Joe Biden’s visit, that it would build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in Al-Quds. Mostly ignored by the media was a report by Israel’s own Planning Ministry that 50,000 new housing units in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods were in various stages of planning and approval.

But without Washington’s billions of aid not a single settler home could be built. This at a time when Americans are suffering draconian cuts in social services and tens of millions are out of work for months or even years at a time!

Saturday’s protest comes three days before the worldwide commemoration of Yom al-Ard (Day of the Land), the annual protests held since 1976, when six Palestinians were murdered by the Israeli army after hundreds of thousands protested Zionist theft of land in the Galilee. Yom al-Ard protests around the world this year will have as a specific target clothing retailer H&M, which just opened a store in Al-Quds, one of six scheduled to open in occupied Palestine. New York protesters will leaflet H&M in Manhattan after the Saturday rally.

Said Al-Awda activist Dima AbiSaab, “We can think of no better tribute to the memories of the four youths martyred in Nablus last weekend, and to the heroism of those brutally attacked defending Al-Quds, than to call for the largest possible turnout this Saturday, March 27th, to defend the entire land of Palestine.”

The coalition calls on all supporters of human rights to join us March 27th to demand:

Defend Al-Quds from Zionist attacks and ethnic cleansing!

For the right of Palestinians to reach their holy sites!

For more information: Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition,
www.al-awdany.org, email [email protected], Tel: 718-228-8636