Rallies for Palestine, Israel, and Peace This Weekend

by Charles Lenchner · 2009-01-10 10:02:00 UTC
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Jewish-Arab Rally for Peace in Israel

The entire world is seeing an outpouring of street action as a result of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

International ANSWER has a list of rallies taking place in the US and Europe. Slogan: Let Gaza Live!The US Campaign to End the Occupation has a list as well. Slogan: End Israel's Attacks on Gaza. (ANSWER is doing a better job of deleting past events. Many events are listed on both calendars.)

United Jewish Communities (UJC) is the main component of what is called the Federation system. It's the backbone of the institutional Jewish community in North America. It too has helped coordinated rallies in solidarity with Israel this week, including what will probqably be the largest one, to be held tomorrow in New York. The full list of actions is here. Slogan: A week of solidarity with Israel.

Over the last week, a third group has emerged. This group has no central authority or well known organizational sponsor, even though it represents the opinion of the largest number of people. This group thinks that questions of who is wrong or right detract from the immediate and urgent need to halt the violence and impose a ceasefire. This group wants to express concern for all victims of war, Israeli and Palestinian, and to express support for peace.

In New York, the organizing hub is basically a Facebook page. Another rally is planned for London, inspired by the first. Today there has already been a Jewish - Arab rally for peace in the north of Israel. Unfortunately, the emerging trend of supporting peace for both sides appears to be small and weak in comparison with the overwhelming desire of activists to jump on the bandwagon for one side or the other.

Still, I'll be attending the one in New York. (I am one of the sponsors.) More than 100 people have confirmed their attendance. Don't expect cutting edge political analysis in our little police protest pen. We'll be the ones singing peace songs, mourning the dead, and rejecting the "us vs. them" mentality at the root of all violence.

Charles Lenchner
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