The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands converged on downtown Washington Saturday to demonstrate for a variety of causes, but it was the numbers and passion of busloads of Arab Americans and their supporters that dominated the streets.
Eager to make their presence felt and their voices heard in the nation’s capital as never before, Arab and Muslim families marched and chanted for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, overwhelming the messages of those with causes in a peaceful day of downtown rallies and marches.
Young men wore the Palestinian flag around their necks like a cape. Arabic was heard nearly as often as English, and cardboard signs held by women and children denounced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Bush. Protesters rallying against corporate wrongs and the global economy found themselves tweaking Vietnam War-era chants to the Palestinian cause, shouting, "One, two, three, four: We don’t want no Mideast war!"
"The message here is we must support the Palestinian people against a military occupation and an apartheid state," said Randa Jamal, a graduate student at New York’s Columbia University who joined thousands at a pro-Palestinian rally near the White House. She said her cousins were killed in Ramallah, and her 16-year-old sister has been unable to attend school because of the Israeli occupation. "What they are going through," she said, "is crimes against humanity."
Palestinian rights was the theme of two of four permitted marches that merged on Pennsylvania Avenue in a loud and colorful procession to the Capitol. The host of other issues — anti-corporate globalization, antiwar and anti-U.S. policies in several areas — were boiled down to an essence visible on banners, placards and T-shirts. Banners read: "Drop debt, not bombs" and "Peace treaty in Korea now." Bumper stickers on T-shirts declared: "No blank check for endless war" and "We are all Palestinian."
It was possible to stand on the Washington Monument grounds and hear simultaneous speeches from three rallies nearby, antiwar demonstrators, counter-demonstrators and pro-Palestinian activists, in a mind-boggling surround-sound mix.
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