Cease-fire still holding in region
By Staff Report
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Residents from around the region attended the National March at the White House: Stop the Massacre in Gaza Rally on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters came from across the United States to show solidarity and call for an end to the violence between Israel and Palestine, which is taking place in Gaza.
Buses filled with supporters converged on the nation’s capital Saturday, coming from as far away as Illinois and Florida as well as from closer states like Massachusetts and New Jersey, including a bus from South Brunswick containing around 60 people.
These supporters were residents of South Brunswick, East Brunswick, Lawrenceville, Piscataway, Somerset, Plainsboro, Old Bridge, Princeton, East Windsor and other surrounding towns, according to organizers.
During the last 27 days, more than 1,700 Palestinians in Gaza and 67 Israelis have been killed in the fighting, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Services.
The terrorist group Hamas has launched hundreds of rockets into the Jewish State, most being destroyed or deflected by the Israeli "Iron Dome" defensive system.
The Israelis have retaliated with many air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza, resulting in a disproportionate number of Palestinian casualties including 377 children and 196 women, according to the office’s report as of Aug. 3.
A total of 485,000 Palestinians in Gaza, or one-third of the total population, is believed to be displaced from the attacks.
Several attempts at humanitarian cease-fires have failed in recent days as the bloodshed continues.
According to one of the main organizers of the demonstration’s website, the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, along with numerous other groups and organizations, helped sponsor and organize the approximately 50,000 supporters attending the march, making it "the largest mobilization of solidarity with Palestine in many years."
National Director of the ANSWER Coalition, Brian Becker, said the purpose of the demonstration in Washington was to get the word out about what is happening in the war-torn region.
"Our principal reason is to tell the world, to tell the White House, to tell the Congress, that the people of the United States don’t approve of the blank check that the U.S. government has given to the Israelis," he said. "And when I say blank check, I don’t mean just in a figurative sense, literally giving them billions of dollars for weapons, munitions to carry out war crimes and crimes against humanity against the predominantly civilian population in Gaza."
Central New Jersey participants like Orlando Rosario, 56, of East Windsor, explained why they were marching.
"I think it is very important that we participate to get some changes in Palestine because it’s just a total massacre," Mr. Rosario said. "It’s not even considered a war any more. It’s just brutal what (the Israeli government) is doing over there because the people of Gaza don’t have fighter planes or tanks. They have (the people of Gaza isolated) by a 30-foot wall on one side, on the other side is the water and ships are bombing them, and tanks are coming from the other side. They are trapped. There is nobody to help them. It’s just outrageous that the world is not condemning the situation."
Mr. Rosario was critical of the death and destruction in Gaza caused by Israel.
"There’s no pinpoint bombing like what Secretary of State John Kerry said, They are just flattening Gaza down," he said. "It’s a shame because they are saying they are giving people a warning to seek shelter somewhere, but they don’t have bomb shelters like Israel has, which can put three million people in a bomb shelter. You tell them (people of Gaza) to go somewhere and then you bomb it. They go to the UN shelter for refuge and then they bomb it. The UN shelters, schools, hospitals, even the places you think are off limits, where injured people are going for safety because of their injuries, they are getting bombed."
Rais Ahmad, 42, of Kendall Park, said he was attending the demonstration to support the civilian population of Gaza.
"I’m going to show solidarity with the people of Gaza," Mr. Ahmad said.
Besides going to the White House he said he would like to visit the Egyptian embassy and other embassies from the Middle East region to ask what their governments are doing to help the people of Gaza.
Vasi Rahaman, 48, of Monmouth Junction said he was happy he was able to participate in the rally and march in Washington.
He said the demonstration "was a great experience for the people that actually went there."
He said there were people of all ages, from babies carried by their mothers and children of all ages, to old men walking with canes.
He said there were people from all ethnicities, Arabs, people from the Indian subcontinent, Caucasians and African Americans.
There were Muslim and non-Muslim supporters including a Jewish organization called the Jewish Voice for Peace, whose members carried signs that stated, "If You Want Peace, Work for Justice. End the Israeli Occupation."
Mr. Rahaman said some of the other messages on signs that supporters carried were, "End the Israeli Occupation," "Stop US Aid," "End the Siege in Gaza," and "End the Massacre in Gaza."
Mr. Rahaman said some of the chants the demonstrators were saying included, "Free, Free, Palestine, "Long Live Palestine", and "End the Occupation Now."
A list of the sponsors and organizations that took part in the National March at the White House can be found at the website www.answercoalition.org.