Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November 2006, pages 65-66

Waging Peace

Protesters Demand End to Israeli Assault on Lebanon

TWO DAYS BEFORE the U.N. Security Council adopted a cease-fire resolution ending the 33-day war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition (ANSWER) sponsored an Aug. 12 national march on Washington. The event was co-sponsored by the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and the National Council of Arab Americans. More than 10,000 people from around the nation came together to demand a dramatic change in United States foreign policy. The event was coordinated with protests in other U.S. cities, including San Francisco and Seattle, and in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, Canada.

The “Global Day of Action”—in such cities as Damascus, Dhaka, Istanbul, Jakarta, Karachi, Madrid, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Mumbai, Nablus, Nairobi, Asuncion, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Sydney, and many others—highlighted the recent Israeli assault, with U.S. support and weapons, on Lebanon and Gaza.

Dozens of speakers from many local and national organizations participated in the Washington, DC rally and march, including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who spoke fervently about the controversial actions of the current U.S. administration and the Israeli government. “For one captive we destroy a nation,” he said, referring to the message projected by Israel. “They are using excessive force…they want to smash a whole country down,” he added.

Also angry with U.S. militarism, Clark noted, “We use more money on defense than the rest of the world combined…and we’ve made more enemies with [President George W.] Bush than any other president in history.” Clark called for the impeachment of Bush and members of his administration. 

People must express ”solidarity with the resistance fighters who are fighting for our generation’s freedom,” said National Council of Arab Americans board member Jafar Jafari. Resistance fighters are “fighting the very occupation that is intent on destroying the Palestinians’ right to return,” he noted, concluding, “We will continue to fight the misguided policies of the U.S. that have alienated us from the very fabric of America.”

“The people of the Middle East epitomize resistance,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of Partnership for Civil Justice (PCJ). “They fight for their children as we would fight for ours.” Referring to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s comment about the “birth pangs of a new Middle East,” Verheyden-Hilliard noted “how sick that is to look at [civilian deaths] so cruelly and callously.” Rice’s comment, she argued, indicates a faulty U.S. view of the situation. “The U.S. does not speak in our names,” she concluded.

Attorney Carl Messineo, also of PCJ, said, “The Israelis assert that the slaughter of Lebanon is in the self-defense of Zionism. As a progressive Jew, I want nothing to do with that brutal and unjust ideology.”

Osama Siblani, Beirut-born publisher of the Dearborn-based TheArab American News, asked the audience, “Who is the terrorist?” The crowd answered, “George Bush!” Siblani then asked, “Is it the one who is defending their land or those who are bombing it?” Calling the current administration “incompetent,” Siblani declared that the protesters gathered outside the White House are “Americans more patriotic than Bush and Rice.”        

Following the speeches, the march began in Lafayette Park and progressed around the White House as people carried Lebanese and Palestinian flags, signs and banners calling for an end to U.S. and Israeli occupation and aggression. Protesters chanted messages such as “Free Lebanon! Free Palestine!” and “1, 2, 3, 4, we don’t want your racist war! 5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is a terrorist state!”

Pointing to the White House, Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation said, “You owe all Muslims around the world an apology.” Describing the Israeli offensive as “deliberate injustice,” Bray called on the protesters to “march on until victory is won.”       

—Amie Draves and Miriam Wakim

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