American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), which sponsored a Washington rally of several hundred thousand against genocide in Gaza, in January 2024, will sponsor another rally on Saturday May 18 at 1 p.m. on the National Mall to commemorate “Nakba 76 Resilence and Return.” The rally is co-sponsored by the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace(PCAP), U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the Palestinian Youth Movement, MD 2 Palestine, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and the DMV Coalition of Students for Justice in Palestine, which organized the recent encampment against genocide in Palestine at George Washington University, which D.C. police broke up after the House Oversight Committee scheduled hearings with university administrators who demanded the protest be broken up.
An officer of the American Muslims for Palestine does not think the rally will be as big as January’s, but it is obviously important, given Israel’s extermination efforts underway in Rafah.
In AMP’s announcement of the rally, “The Ongoing Nakba and Palestinian Resilience To Be Free,” they write: “At the 76th Anniversary of the Nakba, We Honor Our History of Resilience:
“On this day, Palestinians mark the Nakba, or `Catastrophe,’ of 1948 with clear reminders that the Nakba is still ongoing, or mustamirra. The genocide that Israel is committing now in Gaza is a manifestation of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba. Today, we see the Israeli state continuing the crime of ethnic cleansing with land grabs in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and with daily attacks on Palestinians across Palestine. As American Muslims for Palestine, we recognize that this colonial project is bolstered by the United States, which ignores the fascism of Zionist apartheid and reinforces Israel’s weaponization of religion to rationalize the war crimes we see in Palestine....
“The United States and other Western countries have supported Zionist claims and crimes at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine. The U.S. has also provided cover for Israel’s crimes in international forums, such as the UN Security Council, and provided it with the weapons it has used, and still uses, to oppress the Palestinian people, displace them, and steal their land....
“The international community faces a pivotal moment today to correct the historical wrong committed against the Palestinian people. The United States is facing the same pivotal historical moment. The public deception involved in portraying Israel as a perpetual victim no longer deceives younger Americans. Opinion polls prove this and confirm that `Israel’s exceptionalism’ is an illusion—and is morally and politically wrong. Israel is an apartheid and genocidal state and must be treated as a rogue state.
“Elected officials must realize that Americans and the world no longer accept unlimited and unconditional complicity in Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people. At the 76th anniversary of the Nakba during the ongoing Nakba in Gaza, we are more determined than ever to dismantle this colonial oppression through our advocacy. We have steadfastness for what it takes to live freely.”
