Chicagoland to protest killing of over 30 Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been under siege for close to 15 years, and again, they are facing a criminal attack from the Israeli government and military. Over 30 Palestinians have been killed there since yesterday, when Israel began its missile bombardment of the Strip. This comes in the wake of the hundreds of Palestinians who were wounded in the past 24 hours by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. More than 200 have been hospitalized, with a number of them in critical condition.

In response, the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, of which the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)-Chicago chapter is a leading member, is organizing a protest and march to #SaveSheikhJarrah — and demand #HandsOffJerusalem and #HandsOffGaza — (note change of date) Wednesday, May 12th, at 4 PM, at Michigan Avenue and Ida B. Wells Drive (the former Congress Parkway), in downtown Chicago. (The car caravan previously announced for Tuesday afternoon in Worth, Illinois, has been replaced with this protest and march.)

The Chicagoland area is home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the entire U.S.

Yesterday, Palestinian and other journalists in Jerusalem recorded several videos showing tear gas canisters fired inside one of the mosques in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, with rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades (sound bombs) fired on Palestinians throughout the compound.

Racist Israeli settlers had planned to march through Jerusalem, including Palestinian-dominated East Jerusalem, to mark Israel’s illegal 1967 occupation of Palestinian land, and to provoke clashes with Palestinians protecting their homes and businesses.

For weeks now, these settlers have been attacking Palestinians in the Jerusalem area, many shouting “Death to Arabs” as they do so. The Palestinians have fought back, defending themselves from the Israeli settler mobs, even while Israeli police and military provide cover for the racist settlers.

In addition, Israeli authorities are trying to evict and ethnically cleanse more than 70 Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, to give their land and homes to illegal Israeli settlers. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, “It is unlawful under the Fourth Geneva Convention for an occupying power to transfer parts of its own population into the territory it occupies. This means that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of settlements, as these are a form of population transfer into occupied territory. Confiscation of land to build or expand settlements is similarly prohibited.”

The Palestinians of Sheikh Jarrah are resisting the evictions, by protesting in the streets of Jerusalem and by petitioning the Israeli courts. The most recent hearing on the issue has been postponed until June.

A number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Rashida Tlaib, Jesus Garcia, Cori Bush, Marie Newman, Mark Pocan, Andre Carson, Betty McCollum, Ayanna Pressley, Debbie Dingell, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar have all shared social media posts condemning these attempted evictions by the Israelis.

Garcia tweeted photos from a #SaveSheikhJarrah protest in Chicago, and Newman penned a “Dear Colleague” letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling for action from the Biden administration to stop the evictions.

“The racist, white supremacist, Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinians in the streets, and trying to steal their land and homes, because the Netanyahu government emboldens them,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, National Chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).

“Israel is a racist state, its settlers are racist, and its prime minister is racist,” Abudayyeh added. “It is exactly like the white supremacists here in the U.S. who attacked Black and other people of color with impunity during Trump’s administration, because their president was an open racist himself. But just like Black people in the U.S. continue to fight for their rights and against racist oppression, Palestinians in Gaza, Jerusalem, and across the world are doing the same.

“Gazans have the right to defend themselves and their brethren in Jerusalem, and we call on the international community to condemn Israel, and force it to stop its war machine from killing Palestinians.”

USPCN spokespeople are available for phone and in-person interviews and comment today and all week long. Call National Chair Hatem Abudayyeh at 773.301.4108 for scheduling.

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