Brooklyn, NY – Several hundred gathered on Saturday, May 13 in Bay Ridge, commonly known as “Little Palestine,” to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba.

The protest was called by Within Our Lifetime and was endorsed by several anti-imperialist organizations in New York. The afternoon began at 2 p.m. with face painting, music and vendors selling items to attendees. Despite the family-friendly atmosphere, the NYPD brought out a large number of officers trying to curtail the activities.

After a series of chants by Nerdeen Kiswani, Rude Mechanical Orchestra kept spirits militant and energized by playing revolutionary music. Kiswani continued with a speech about why pro-Palestine forces mark the day yearly, talking about the catastrophe, and emphasizing the past 75 years were marked by resistance.

The crowd continued with speeches and chants, and then later in the afternoon, a march ensued throughout Brooklyn.

#BrooklynNY #Palestine #AlNakba #MiddleEast

Los Angeles, CA – 20,000 strong, the Palestinian community and supporters throughout Southern California descended upon the West Los Angeles Wilshire Federal Building and marched to the Israeli Consulate. Protesters demanded an end to the occupation of all historical Palestine and the dismantling of apartheid by the Israeli colonial entity responsible for the terror and mass displacement of Palestinians since 1948, and for and end the violence endured by neighboring Arab countries.

For Palestinians, May 15 marks Al Nakba – Arabic for The Catastrophe. During the 1948 war, at least 750,000 Palestinian men, women and children were ruthlessly attacked, massacred and driven from their homes by Zionist terror groups, and have never been allowed to return, in violation of international law. 2021 marks 73 years of U.S.-backed Israeli land theft, occupation, and apartheid.

This year we are not talking about Al-Nakba as an historic event but one that is still ongoing. Within the past month, the Zionist entity has violently attacked Jerusalem, what Palestinians consider their capital, during the holy month of Ramadan, with a surge of violence by the Israeli Occupation during the last few days of Ramadan. Hundreds were left injured and holy sites were desecrated. Deaths were reported throughout the West Bank, while the Israeli Occupation leveraged brutal violence on Palestinians in historical Palestine. Gazan civilians were also bombed, with the death count mounting. This all comes after a year of economic strangulation and mounting harsh living conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demands at the Nakba 73 March included “Free Palestine,” “Unification of all segments of Palestinians,” and “Stop U.S. armament shipments to Israel.” Chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” and “Long Live the Intifada” – could be heard as marchers undertook the two-mile trek through the streets of West L.A. to voice their grievances at the Zionist consulate.

In attendance were various local groups and organizations. The pro-Palestinian contingent was a diverse crowd of various peoples, many of whom brought their own flags to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Among the contingent of marchers were many Palestinian flags, but also Armenian, Afghan, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Mexican, Salvadoran, Pan-African, and Croatian flags waving in solidarity with Palestine. A counter-protest of pro-Zionists congregated a block away, but their numbers were substantially lower than that of the pro-Palestinian crowd.

The overall response of the march and rally was relatively positive, with many drivers honking their horns in support and many onlookers standing outside of their homes to cheer on the marchers.

Participating organizations included the US Palestinian Community Network, Palestinian Youth Movement, American Muslims for Palestine, Free Democratic Palestine Movement, and Yalla Indivisible.

#LosAngelesCA #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #AlNakba #MiddleEast

Tampa, FL – On May 15, 500 members of the Palestinian community and supporters from Tampa Bay rallied to demand an end to the Israeli attacks on Gaza. This year on May 15 marks the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba. Al Nakba is the day in 1948 in which at least 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes by Zionist terror groups and settlers.

Lara Abu Ghannam, an organizer of the event, stated “We’re out here today to commemorate the 73rd Al Nakba, the exodus of my people, which displaced them and made them to flee the violence of Israeli colonizers. My own family, my own mother had fled when she was a few months old to Jordan.”

Hundreds of protesters crowded on the corner of 56th and Fowler to demand an end to the Israeli occupation. Many more honked in support while driving by, their cars decorated with flags and signs in support.

Laith Abdel Hader, member of Students for Justice for Palestine at USF, states, “The momentum that we got today is unprecedented. I haven’t seen this much support for the Palestinian cause in my years of organizing and this shows how the Palestinian cause has become a mainstream issue. This brings us one step closer to liberation.”

The protesters demonstrated solidarity with the people of Palestine living under the brutal Israeli occupation. Members of the community of all backgrounds joined to show their support.

Erika Santana Melendez stated her reasoning for attending the protest, “I’m from Puerto Rico. We are absolutely connected with this issue of colonization, and if we allow the colonization of Palestinians, we allow the colonization of my people as well.”

The protesters demanded an end to the Israeli occupation. They urged the people of the United States continue showing up for protests, posting on social media, and demanding for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) of Israeli products or companies that send financial support to Israel.

#TampaFL #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #AlNakba

Grand Rapids, MI – 60 protesters gathered for a “Free Palestine, Stop U.S. Aid to Israel” protest in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 15, as the world observed Nakba Day amid continued Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.

Organized by the Grand Rapids Anti-War Committee, the protest featured speakers from Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Democratic Socialists of America, Bimose Ode, Justice for Black Lives, and local Palestinian activists.

Protesters chanted “Free, free, Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

“Joe Biden and the American government need to stop funding the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians immediately,” said organizer Olivia Lashley, “the entire world is waking up to the lies of the American and Israeli governments, and the people will no longer tolerate these atrocities.”

#GrandRapidsMI #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #AlNakba #MiddleEast

Chicago, IL – The U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) commemorated the Nakba, “Catastrophe” in English, which marks the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinians, and the massacre of thousands more, by Zionist militia groups in 1948, in the wake of the establishment of the settler colonial state of Israel. Palestinians and their supporters all around the world remember the Nakba every year on or around May 15.

On May 14, USPCN-New York member Suzanne Adely moderated a webinar with George Khoury, a Nakba survivor and longtime Detroit-based organizer, and Rasmea Odeh, the famous former Palestinian political prisoner who, after a politically-charged prosecution that was an attack on her organizing and the Palestine national movement as a whole, was deported from the U.S. in 2017.

After George Khoury told his powerful Nakba story, Rasmea Odeh provided a historical analysis and talked about Palestinian resistance to Israeli colonialism. Both emphasized the need to continue organizing for justice and liberation, especially in the U.S., which provides Israel over $5 billion of military and other aid per year. The U.S. under Trump has taken even more extreme steps to support the racist state, like moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, accepting Israel’s declaration of full sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is stolen Syrian land, and proposing the “Deal of the Century,” a sham peace plan that ignores all Palestinian rights.

“The Nakba taught me that whatever is taken by force, it must be taken back by force, and thus we need to organize and tell our people: Your history was denied, your future was denied. The only way to get liberation is to organize,” stated Khoury at the end of his speech.

Odeh added to Khoury’s statement: “We will accept nothing less than our right of return, and to create a democratic state on our land.”

The next day, USPCNs Chicago chapter organized a Palestinian Car Caravan, in which 75 cars and over 100 community members and allies participated.

The caravan started in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, home to one of the largest communities of Palestinians and Arabs in the U.S., and drove to the Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago, where U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have offices.

Simultaneously, USPCN organized a Twitter storm, asking supporters to call their Representatives in the U.S. Congress and demand that they support the No Way to Treat a Child bill (HR 2407), which calls for Israel to stop the detention of children, and take action to end the blockade on Gaza now.

One Palestinian from Chicagoland, who is a descendant of refugees barred from returning to their homes that were stolen in 1948, declared, “The Right of Return to our homes is a must! We will never forget. We will keep on organizing and fighting until we are able to return home.”

#ChicagoIL #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #SpecialCoverage #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #alNakba #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #RasmeaOdeh #USPalestinianCommunityNetworkUSPCN

Columbia Heights, MN – Just outside city limits from Northeast Minneapolis, Central Avenue was awash with Palestine flags during Friday rush hour as Palestinian-Americans and solidarity activists commemorated Al-Nakba. Nakba Day, held each year on May 15, remembers the 1948 ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of indigenous Palestinians from their national homeland by Zionist settlers. Around 60 cars and dozens of families drove in a long caravan through the heavily Arab-American neighborhood, with chants of “From the river to the sea…” echoing for blocks. The protest was one of many actions that happened internationally.

The event was organized by the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and American Muslims for Palestine-Minnesota (AMP-MN), and endorsed by Jewish Voice for Peace-Twin Cities, Women Against Military Madness, and the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition. Demands included the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants; an end to U.S. aid to Israel, and a free Palestine.

Drivers and pedestrians along the busy commercial strip honked horns and flashed victory signs in solidarity with the car rally. Palestinian-Americans residing in the northern Twin Cities suburbs have held Nakba Day rallies in various forms for years.

“When you’re Palestinian, you’re fighting for Palestine from the minute you’re born,” said Mariam El-Khatib of AMP-MN in a speech as cars gathered for the rally. “Al Nakba happened 72 years ago but we live the Nakba every single day as Palestinians in the West Bank, as Palestinians in Gaza, as Palestinians in the diaspora like myself and many of the Palestinians here today.”

“There’s 72 years of Nakba but there’s also 72 years of resilience,” El-Khatib continued. “We’re going to continue to fight and we’re going to continue to resist until Palestine is free.”

Christine Hauschildt of the AWC spoke about the situation in Palestine in relation to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, explaining, “We are living in a time where most people are experiencing restrictions and isolation in order to protect our communities against the spread of COVID-19. Many of us have never felt restrictions to our movement and what we have access to, which is something the Palestinian people have suffered through for 72 years without the comforting knowledge of some kind of return to normal or living a life of safety and freedom.”

“For Palestinians, COVID-19 poses a greater threat to their health and safety than before,” she said. “Palestinians had an extremely under-resourced health system with many people unable to access adequate health care. Now that the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza have seen their first cases of COVID-19, their health systems are challenged with an even greater burden.”

About a dozen reactionaries calling themselves 3% United Patriots of Minnesota attempted to provoke the demonstrators with a counter-protest, calling Palestinian people “cockroaches,” “terrorists” and “jihadis.” The group also had recently participated in so-called ‘Liberate Minnesota’ protests against a scientific approach to the state’s pandemic response. At the Nakba Day rally, they waved Israeli flags and loudly applauded President Trump while condemning as “cowardly” the wearing of pandemic face masks. They attempted their own car caravan but after circling the parking lot with only seven cars they retreated instead to holding flags at the corner away from the parking lot.

“It’s no surprise that the same people who reject basic public health measures to control a pandemic are also bigoted supporters of a racist apartheid state like Israel,” Kent Mori of the AWC told Fight Back!. “Oppressors everywhere see the pandemic as an opportunity to go on the offensive. We see this in Palestine where Israel is poised to expand its territorial claims in the West Bank, and we see this in Minnesota where these racists thought they could drive us off the streets. On Nakba Day we showed them they’re wrong.”

#ColumbiaHeightsMN #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #AntiWarCommittee #alNakba #AmericanMuslimsForPalestineMinnesotaAMPMN

New York, NY – Over 100 people gathered in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn on May 15 to commemorate 71 years since the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” The Nakba marks the 1948 anniversary of Israel’s expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from their land.

The rally was organized by Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine (WOL) with speakers from other Palestinian and solidarity organizations.

The speakers emphasized that despite 71 years of occupation, the fight remains strong and that Palestine will one day be free.

Jessica Schwartz from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression echoed the call for continuous struggle for Palestine.

“Something we all here can learn from the Palestinian liberation struggle is that no enemy is too large for us. From the brave fighters of the Great Return March to Khalida Jarrar, Rasmea Odeh and Ahed Tamimi, we honor all of those who have confronted the apartheid regime of Israel, and we promise to continue fighting,” Schwartz said.

After the rally, the crowd gathered for an Iftar fundraiser, in honor of Ramadan.

#NewYorkNY #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #AlNakba #MiddleEast

Columbia Heights, MN – About 40 Palestinian-Americans, Palestine solidarity activists and immigrant rights activists rallied in Columbia Heights on May 16, to draw attention to the U.S. negative role in Palestine. Central Avenue in Columbia Heights is a main street for the Arab and Muslim community in the suburbs north of Minneapolis. The protest got a significant response from people returning home after work and shopping for food for their upcoming iftars.

The protest was the week of the 71st anniversary of Al Nakba, which is marked in Palestine and throughout the Palestinian diaspora every year.

Reem Salem, from American Muslims for Palestine – Minnesota, explained the significance of Al Nakba to the crowd, “The foundation of Israel on May 14, 1948 meant hundreds of thousands of them fled or were expelled from their homes. More than 750,000 Palestinians were pushed from their homes and into refugee camps in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza strip, and neighboring countries, creating a refugee crisis that is still not resolved and its legacy remains one of the most intractable issues in ongoing peace negotiations. Palestinians’ Nakba didn’t end well in 1948, and it continues to affect more than 12 million Palestinians around the world that remain without a state, rights, or voice to defend themselves. A core Palestinian demand in peace negotiations is some kind of justice for these refugees, most commonly in the form of the ‘right to return’ to the homes of their families fled in 1948. So we demand our right to return.”

Wyatt Miller, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, tied in the demand of the right of return to Trump’s recent claim to propose a peace plan, “The details are still unclear of Trump’s plan, but we already know what it will mean. Weakened sovereignty for Palestine. More stolen land. The same pattern where previous ‘peace plans’ like the Oslo Accords are never implemented, and ultimately replaced by even worse ‘peace plans.’ Nothing for the millions of Palestinians in the diaspora who live in exile. And it will all be backed by a threat of U.S. sanctions and military force. Does that even make it a ‘peace plan’? No. This plan is just the terms of surrender that Trump will try to force onto the Palestinian people. So let’s call it what it really is: a pretext, for further occupation, more land theft, more refugees with no right of return, and no end in sight.”

All the speakers and protesters had a fiery spirit in hopes that Israeli apartheid will fall. Sara Olson, a board member of Women Against Military Madness, ended her speech, “But, like apartheid in South Africa, I believe Israeli apartheid too will fall. There are growing signs that the people of the United States are slowly coming out of their long stupor of support for an apartheid regime in Israel, just as they did for the one in South Africa. Despite attempts by both major American political parties to suppress opposition, American campaigners are refusing to bow to the truth of Israel’s increasingly far right government to further permanently steal and occupy Palestinian land, to kill Palestinians at will, and to foment regional wars in the Middle East. Israel’s leaders will continue to experience some success with their machinations in the near future, but they will one day fall and not only the Palestinians, but the rest of the world, will be better off for it.”

The protest was co-sponsored by the Anti-War Committee, American Muslims for Palestine – MN, Students for Justice in Palestine – U of MN, and Women Against Military Madness. The next action for the Minnesota Palestine solidarity movement will be at the state legislature in room G23 at 10 a.m. on May 30, to advocate for the state of Minnesota to divest from Israeli bonds.

#ColumbiaHeightsMN #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #US #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #AntiWarCommittee #alNakba #DonaldTrump

New York, NY – Over 70 Palestinians and solidarity activists protested the Celebrate Israel Parade on June 3 in New York. The parade commemorated the 70th anniversary of Al Nakba or “the catastrophe,” when the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians led to the founding of Israel.

Pro-Palestine protesters chanted and held coffins up in the air. There were large signs with photos of the over 100 killed a few weeks ago during the Great March of Return. Protesters jeered Senator Chuck Schumer, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Mayor Bill de Blasio for participating. Chants included “Little kids, there’s still time, go home and Google ‘Palestine’” and “How do you spell murderer? I-D-F!”

After the rally, the protesters marched to Columbus Circle with the coffins held high and a large Palestinian flag waving in the wind, handing out flyers to educate people about Palestine.

The action was organized by the NY4Palestine coalition. To stay updated on their upcoming actions and events, follow them here https://facebook.com/NY4Palestine/.

#NewYorkNY #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #Antiracism #AlNakba #Antifascism

New York, NY – At least 900 people gathered in Times Square, May 19, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nakba. The rally was called for by NY4Palestine, a coalition of organizations that stand for the liberation of historic Palestine.

This was the second rally held in New York by NY4Palestine members. The first was held earlier this week on the 14th in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Nerdeen Kiswani, an organizer with Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine, emceed the event from the back of a pickup truck on Broadway and 42nd Street. Her powerful voice rang through, “As one of the organizers of this rally, we have four specific demands [for] when people ask us why we’re out in the streets screaming for Palestine and what we hope to accomplish. Our first demand is the right of return and demanding an end to the 70 years of the ongoing Nakba, and the unconditional right of return to their homeland for Palestinians. Our second demand is proclaiming that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine. We condemn moving the embassy moving to Al-Quds and we condemn wherever the U.S. Embassy would be, because all Palestine is Palestinian land – from the river to the sea! We support the right of all Palestinians resisting the illegal siege by Israel during the great return march. And our final demand, from the belly of the beast, from one of the most powerful countries on Earth, if not the most, that continues to fund Israel and makes it possible to continue murder Palestinians, the United States of America. We demand an end to all U.S. military aid to Israel.”

The rally continued with several speeches, including one by Jake Holtzman, from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression NY. Holtzman spoke on the connection of political repression and those organizing for liberation of Palestine.

A rabbi from Neturei Karta gave a powerful speech regarding the solidarity between Jews and the people of Palestine. He said, “How can you call Israel Judaism? Our law forbids murder and stealing, and therefore forbids occupation! Our Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel are currently protesting the occupation and murder of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, and they are getting tortured for doing so! This is not Judaism and we shall continue until all Palestine is free!”

The rally ended with a march to the Israeli Consulate, where Kiswani gave a rousing cry to action to all to continue organizing.

#NewYorkNY #Palestine #AlNakba #Nakba70 #WithinOurLifetimeUnitedForPalestine #MiddleEast