Weekend Protests Demand an End to Violence in Gaza


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By Simon Albaugh – Yemeni American News

Dearborn, Mich. – Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Dearborn, and other major cities around the world, over this weekend to demand for an end to Israeli aggression that has left almost 200 Gazans dead as of May 17.

The recent escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas began with a long-awaited legal decision between Israeli Settlers and Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Settlers believe that the land that’s owned by Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighborhood originally belonged to Jewish residents, but after 1948, were granted to Palestinians by the Jordanian Authority.

The legal team representing the Palestinian families provided documentation that the land was originally owned by Arab families, according to documents that were found in Istanbul, dating back to the Ottoman rule of the Mediterranean territory.

The group of settlers brought the issue to Israel’s Supreme Court, which announced that it would allow Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, 30 days to review the case. This move, according to the New York Times, was sparked by the International attention that the court case caused.

The Demonstrations in Dearborn began with speeches from such figures as Palestinian American Lawmaker Rashida Tlaib and Palestinian American Comedian Amer Zahr.

“They tried to get rid of us, and they’re not very good at it,” Zahr said. “They said the old will die and the young will forget, I see some old people here. They did not die yet. And there are three and four-year-old little Palestinian kids walking around here today that’ll tell you the name of the village that their grandparents got kicked out of.”

Amer Zahr, Palestinian American Comedian and Political Activist, speaks to the 10,000-strong crowd in Dearborn.

According to the Dearborn Police Department, around 10,000 demonstrators marched along Michigan Avenue in support of Palestinian Self-Determination in the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

Other Demonstrations have happened as close as Detroit and as far as Sydney, Australia, where another demonstration that attracted thousands protested Australia’s relationship with Israel.

Human Rights Groups have looked at the Israeli Supreme Court Case as an example of Apartheid Law, a phenomenon originally identified in South Africa’s inhumane treatment of the native African population by white, European colonizers in the territory.

At the root of International Human Rights Groups calling the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict an Apartheid Rule deals with the major tenets of inequality between Israeli and Palestinian Citizens. In a report published by the Norwegian Refugee Council details the way the laws governing the right to return to abandoned property after the major conflicts in 1948 have favored Israeli Citizens and disenfranchised Palestinians, especially in the East Jerusalem region.

This legalized persecution of Palestinians has long been a tenet of Israel’s policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It’s ultimately sparked a call by Human Rights Watch to announce that the Israeli occupation has passed the threshold in becoming a recognizable Apartheid system in which Israeli control dominates over Palestinian Self-Determination.

“To sustain Jewish Israeli control, Israeli authorities have adopted policies aimed at mitigating what they have openly described as a demographic “threat” that Palestinians pose,” reads the report published by Human Rights Watch. “Those policies include limiting the population and political power of Palestinians, granting the right to vote only to Palestinians who live within the borders of Israel,.. and limiting the ability of Palestinians to move to Israel from the Occupied Palestinian Territories and from anywhere else to Israel.”

“Other steps are taken to ensure that Jewish Israeli domination… of areas with significant Palestinian populations.”

The protests over this weekend from Dearborn and all over the world call for an end to what has been an asymmetrical conflict in which thousands of Gazans have lost their lives, and millions have been stripped of their civil rights.

The Diaspora that exists in places like Dearborn long remember this asymmetrical treatment of Palestinians in their homeland. It’s been a tenet of Israeli domination in the region, and if nothing is done, will long continue to be a part of life for Palestinians in their homeland.

“We didn’t forget,” Zahr said. “They thought we would, and they hoped we would. That’s the only way that they can win. And so we are here today to stand together in Dearborn. And we are here today to send a message.”

 
  
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