USPCN Report on #Nakba70 Protests & Support for #GreatReturnMarch

One hundred and fourteen (114) Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since starting the #GreatReturnMarch on Land Day (March 30th), including over 60 on May 14th alone, the day before Trump officially moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Among those Palestinians massacred by the apartheid Israeli regime are 14 children.  Over 13,000 total have been injured, including 332 whose injuries are considered “life-threatening,” according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, as Israel has fired live ammunition from snipers and used tear gas and other weaponry on hundreds of thousands of unarmed protesters.

In the last two weeks, USPCN has joined in protests of our own, along with thousands of others in the U.S. and tens of thousands across the world.  We are calling on our Congressional representatives to speak out and condemn these Israeli crimes! Please help by calling your Senators and Representatives, and pressing them to do the same.

Below are some pictures, videos, and reports of our recent work.  Stay in touch as we continue to commemorate #Nakba70, and organize for the Right of Return, the end of zionist Israeli colonization and occupation of Palestinian and Arab land, and self-determination and national liberation for the Palestinian people!

USPCN – May 25th, 2018

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On May 11th, USPCN led a coalition effort that brought 500 people out to march through downtown Chicago, on Michigan Avenue, the most popular street in the city.

Chanting, “Netanyahu, you will learn…by the millions, we’ll return!” the energetic protest was the first of a powerful week of action across the U.S. (See video from Sensitive Visuals here, great pictures from Sarah-Ji here, and a press hit here.)

A couple of weeks earlier, USPCN-Chicago made this video in honor of Mohammed Abu Amr, a 19-year-old Gaza Palestinian artist murdered by the Israelis.

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On May 14th, USPCN, along with a local coalition, organized a rally and march of 200 people through downtown Milwaukee. Demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel, as well as the #Nakba70 and #GreatReturnMarch slogans of Right of Return and an end to the siege of Gaza, the rally attracted Palestinian and Arab  community members, plus solidarity activists from the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee, Wisconsin Peace Action, and others.

Read this article about the Milwaukee action.

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Also on May 14, hundreds of protesters rallied at Hart Plaza in Detroit to condemn the Israeli massacre of Palestinians who took part in the #GreatReturnMarch protests, commemorate 70 years of occupation after the 1948 Nakba, and oppose the opening of the U.S. embassy to Israel in Jerusalem.

Throughout the demonstration, protesters with signs and banners were accompanied by chants repeating, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Samar Kassem of USPCN called for the demonstration to not only condemn the embassy decision that has proceeded “against the consensus of the international community,” but also to commemorate the 70th year of resistance from a people living under brutal occupation, erasure of narrative, and theft of land “that [U.S.] tax dollars have [imposed upon them].”

USPCN’s 76-year-old George Khoury and 88-year-old Elaine Rumman shared their first-hand experiences of the Nakba.

“At the end of August in 1948 they came with delivery trucks, and they went from condominium to condominium and drove east,” remembered Khoury. “Anyone that remained [after we were forced back] was shot or killed.”

“It really breaks my heart to [remember] all the Palestinians killed in Palestine,” added Rumman. “I don’t know how parents can stand [to see] their children injured.”

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And in Los Angeles on May 14th, USPCN members confronted a zionist who sought to derail an action led by Palestinian youth in support of the #GreatReturnMarch and in honor of the brave Palestinians who risk their lives every day for dignity, freedom, and the Right of Return.

The zionist weaved through the crowd of Palestine support protesters, taunting and trying to record videos, as the LAPD looked on without stopping his harassment.

He was only removed after the protesters confronted him head-on, surrounding him with chants and rally placards to isolate him from the rally.

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In DC on May 15th, USPCN, along with the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace-DC, Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, and others, co-sponsored 70 Years of Nakba Too Long, a vigil and rally at Dupont Circle.

The attendees told stories of the Nakba, sang songs of return, and displayed powerful images of Ahed Tamimi, the brave Palestinian child who confronted Israeli soldiers trying to storm her home earlier this year.

Read press here and watch this.

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Chicago’s May 15th rally doubled the number from May 11th, as over 1,000 Palestinians and supporters marched again on Michigan Avenue to the Israeli Consulate downtown.

USPCN and the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine organized the action, which shut down parts of the city.

Frank Chapman, a leading Black police accountability organizer with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, talked about the rich history of Black-Palestinian solidarity, and reminded the passionate crowd that “the U.S. government has no right to support the criminal state of Israel in [his] name!”

Watch another Sensitive Visuals video of the protest here, see more incredible pictures from Sarah-Ji here, and read and watch this from the Chicago Sun-Times.

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And USPCN’s Bay Area chapter participated in a number of activities organized by the Palestine Action Network (which includes Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Palestinian Youth Movement, USPCN, and others) over the past two weeks, including a cultural event, two protests, and a disruption of a talk by none other than the war criminal and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak!

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