Make an end-of-year humanitarian aid donation to Gaza, and also support USPCN’s organizing today!

Stop the U.S.-sponsored Israeli genocide, and fight for the liberation of Palestine!

As we approach the new year, we are in the midst of an ongoing genocide being committed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) — with the blessing of the U.S. and European Union — against our people in Gaza, with over 21,000 Palestinians killed, including more than 8,000 children. Almost 2 million Gazans have been displaced, and two-thirds of the Strip’s infrastructure has been destroyed. These staggering numbers come to us from the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Since October 7th, our people in the homeland have been subjected to mass killings, internal exile, a lack of basic human necessities and other resources, and the insecurity of an unpredictable future. But Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the 1948 territories have also shown the whole world what pride, steadfastness, and Unified Resistance truly means, fighting by any means necessary in defense of our people, our land, our dignity, and our liberation.

The Israelis are losing in the political arena, in the battlefield, and in the court of public opinion, and the Palestinian people’s Resistance and bravery have won the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions across the world, who have exposed the complicity of war criminals Joe Biden and other Western leaders in Israel’s genocide. The world is standing with Palestinian liberation and against the racism, white supremacy, zionism, settler-colonialism, and apartheid of Israel and its imperialist patron, the U.S.

And although we recognize that our people and allies in the U.S. have already donated and contributed an incredible amount of money, passion, and energy to Gaza and the rest of Palestine, we encourage everyone to continue to support USPCN’s joint humanitarian aid project with the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), which provides invaluable resources directly to Palestinians in Gaza.

All of us in the diaspora are also experiencing challenging times. We are organizing and advocating non-stop in the U.S. for Palestine, and doing it while facing brutal government and zionist repression, as well as anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim racism.

Support our community organizing as well, and keep reading for a recap of our work over the
past three months!

USPCN-California

In the Bay Area, along with the Arab Resource and Organizing Center and Palestine Action Network, we helped organize several mass protests of tens of thousands of people in total, and worked in coalition with dozens of other organizations to stop an Israel ship from unloading its cargo in Oakland (#BlockTheBoat), and to push both the Richmond, California, and Oakland, California, city councils to pass pro-Palestine resolutions.

Our Southern California chapter led two vigils for Palestine, in Orange County and San Diego, with the Palestinian American Women’s Association (PAWA) and amazing solidarity from Black Lives Matter Grassroots and the Chicano-led Centro CSO, both of which have had Palestine’s back since day one!

Our #BoycottSadaf campaign (photo below left) has been revitalized this year, as dozens of community members distributed literature and had discussions about Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) organizing with store and other small-business owners in California. Stay tuned as we continue to pressure everyone to deshelve Sadaf foods, and divest from other dangerous, zionist brand names.

And sadly, just last week, we lost a co-founder of our organization, Mona Odeh (photo directly above), who had spent many years in her youth as a student and women’s rights organizer for Palestine, and then almost two decades as a USPCN member in the Bay. May she Rest In Power!

Organizing in Texas, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin

In Houston, a number of USPCN elders worked together with the Palestinian Youth Movement and others to mobilize tens of thousands over a series of mass protests.

Our Milwaukee chapter, along with the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, mobilized for a march in the capital of Madison on December 9th; Chicago member Muhammad Sankari gave the keynote address at the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee‘s 2nd annual International Human Rights Day event on December 17th; and we protested #GenocideJoe’s visit to the city on December 20th.

In Youngstown, Ohio, we organized a number of protests and held a fundraiser for our humanitarian aid project with MECA, raising over $80,000! In Cleveland, Ohio, USPCN also worked in coalition to organize a number of protests, and specifically led one targeting the racist, zionist owners of the Cleveland Cavaliers, which also shut down the historic Lorain-Carnegie Bridge.

And in Detroit, despite the passing on October 6th of USPCN co-founder and force-of-nature George Khoury (photo above right), who was a legendary Detroit / Dearborn organizer for over 60 years, we worked in coalition with dozens of institutions to mobilize tens of thousands in total against the genocide and in support of Palestinian liberation. May he Rest in Power as well!

Chicago

USPCN has been on the front lines of the movement in one of the largest Palestinian communities in the U.S. With the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, we organized 15 mass actions since October 8th, with the largest one attracting 25,000 protesters; two of the mobilizations were car caravans that simultaneously shut down multiple, major highways and also confronted U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

In one of the mass protests, we took over and marched on DuSable Lake Shore Drive, a major thoroughfare in Chicago, where the Chicago Police Department was overwhelmed by 2,500 Palestinians and allies, led mostly by youth and immigrant women! And we also “welcomed” #GenocideJoe to Chicago with close to 5,000 protesting him on November 9th.

USPCN-Chicago has also been at the fore in targeting the complicity of elected officials, who have proven clearly that they are U.S. imperialists by unabashedly and publicly supporting this Israeli genocide. Alongside allies and Friends of USPCN, we protested racist Illinois state senator Sara Feigenholtz; U.S. congresspeople Jan Schakowsky, Sean Casten, and Bill Foster; and the aforementioned Durbin.

Schakowsky gave the go-ahead to police to arrest seven protesters (their cases were later dropped) when we organized a sit-in at her office, and our actions ultimately resulted in Casten and she being forced to shut down their offices and provide remote services instead. #NoBusinessAsUsual for those who support genocide and war crimes.

And we are working closely with Chicago City Council members, including Puerto Rican ally Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, to pass a resolution to call for support for Palestinian rights and an end to the genocide.

Projecting USPCN on the national level

USPCN was called upon to represent the Palestinian community’s voice and perspective with dozens of local, national, and international English- and Arabic-language media outlets, including the New York Times, USA Today, Al Mayadeen, and Al Jazeera, and podcasts with Fight Back! Radio and the Electronic Intifada.

We also mobilized hundreds to join the massive November 4th protest in Washington DC; participated in the counter protests of the zionist Jewish National Fund in Denver, Colorado; and supported USPCN co-founder Monadel Herzallah and other plaintiffs’ lawsuit against Biden for supporting genocide.

Herzallah lost a number of family members in Gaza, and is being represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights.

We can’t stop organizing

It has been a busy three months for all of us, and we will eventually force Israel to stop its bombing, but we know that our organizing does not end when the bombing stops.

The siege on Gaza, the occupation and colonization, and the viciousness of the zionist, apartheid regime must still be defeated, so USPCN and all of us here in the U.S. must continue to organize to demand that the U.S. government #StopArmingIsrael and #EndUSAidToIsrael.

We must continue to be out in the streets, pay close attention to the political guidance of our people back home, and never waver in our demands to stop the genocide immediately, end the siege on Gaza now, and free all Palestinian political prisoners; or in our overall thawabet, or “constants,” including the right to resist Israeli occupation and colonization of all Palestinian and Arab lands, the right of self-determination and liberation From the River to the Sea, and the Right of Return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to the homes and lands from which they were ethnically cleansed in 1947-1949 and again in 1967.

And since we won’t stop organizing, USPCN has joined the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Students for a Democratic Society for a National Week of Action starting New Year’s Day — January 1st through January 7th, 2024. Check out our endorsers and events, and participate wherever you are!

Again, please give if you can, and despite the brutality we have experienced in the past months, our Palestinian people continue their Resistance and fight for liberation, so we optimistically wish you all a happy end of the year and a healthy 2024, with freedom and justice for all.

Until Victory, Liberation, and Return,

Monadel Herzallah
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
Friday, December 29th, 2023