U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
For Immediate Release: Sunday, May 16th, 2021
Media Contact: Hatem Abudayyeh, USPCN National Chair, 773.301.4108 (preferred contact [phone, text, whatsapp, or signal]), [email protected]
Today: Chicagoland Palestinians to again protest the “blood on Israel’s hands”
WHAT: Protest and march
WHEN: Sunday, May 16th, at 1 PM Central Time
WHERE: Michigan Avenue & Ida B. Wells Drive, downtown Chicago
The U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)-Chicago chapter, member organization of the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, is again co-leading a mass protest and march in downtown Chicago to condemn Israel’s killing of (according to the health ministry in Gaza, as reported by the NY Times) at least 145 people in the Gaza Strip, including 40 children. The ministry counted over 1,125 injured, and the Times also wrote, “the United Nations said that 10,000 Gazans had left their homes to take shelter in schools, mosques and other places.”
According to CNN, Israel killed 10 members of one family, including eight children, with an air strike Saturday that destroyed a home in the al-Shati refugee camp of Gaza. Only an infant survived. Israel also bombed a building that housed offices for Al Jazeera and the Associated Press.
Yesterday in the West Bank, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, said it was “the first time in years” that Israeli forces “resort to the use of live bullets to deal with massive protests across the occupied Palestinian territories.” May 15th, Nakba Day, is supposed to commemorate the 1948 forced exile of over 750,000 Palestinians from the area now known as Israel, but it turned into a day of massive protests of Israel’s recent attacks instead. In addition to the Gaza death toll, 13 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and Jerusalem, with many more hundreds injured.
“Israel and its prime minister Netanyahu have blood on their hands,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, USPCN National Chair, “and the U.S. government, especially President Biden, who has given a green light to Israel’s crimes, is complicit.”
This latest escalation of violence started weeks ago, as Israeli settlers began attacking Palestinians in the Jerusalem area, shouting “Death to Arabs” as they marched. The Palestinians fought back, defending themselves from the Israeli settler mobs, even while Israeli police and military provided cover for the racist settlers.
At the same time, Israeli police and military laid siege on the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, where several videos showed tear gas canisters used inside one of the mosques in the compound, and where rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades (sound bombs) were fired on Palestinians.
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. The Palestinians of Sheikh Jarrah continue to resist 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.
Close to 10,000 Chicagoans were on hand at last week’s protest in support of Palestinian rights, and organizers expect huge numbers again today. There were massive mobilizations against Israel yesterday in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Detroit / Dearborn, as well as in dozens of cities across the world.
Abudayyeh added: “Palestinians are practicing self-defense, and have every right to do so. The racist, white supremacist Israeli government is again an isolated, pariah state supported only by the U.S. and Western Europe. We demand that Israel stop killing our people, but also that our government stop allowing it.”
USPCN spokespeople are available for phone and in-person interviews and comment before, during, and after the protest and march today. Call Abudayyeh at 773.301.4108 for scheduling.
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