On Sept. 18, hundreds of protesters crowded the sidewalk in downtown Chicago across from the Israeli Consulate, joining a global day of action against Israel’s recent aggression towards the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The mosque, the third holiest site for Muslims in the Islamic world, is independent of the Israeli state and is administered by the Jordan-based Islamic Trust as an open site of prayer for Muslims in Palestine.
Earlier this week, Israeli forces stormed the mosque, damaging architecture and artifacts and using stun grenades to violently expel worshipers. When Palestinians attempted to protest this incursion, the Israelis responded by clamping down hard, escalating tension and restricting access to the site during a week of growing unease. As a result, confrontation between Palestinian youth and Israeli security has now begun to spread throughout East Jerusalem, with the Israelis utilizing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters.
In 2000, it was a similar act of Israeli aggression towards the site which became the catalyst for the Second Intifada, a five year uprising during which the IDF used brutal tactics in order to repress the aspirations of Palestinian liberation, resulting in thousands of Palestinian dead.
The action in support of Palestine was initiated by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, and supported by a large swath of progressive organizations opposed to the continued occupation of Palestine.
Activists chanted through the sudden afternoon rain, “Hands off Al-Aqsa!” and “Occupation is a crime!” while also remaining stoic in the face of the occasional obscene gesture from reactionary settler partisans across the street.
Representatives from several Palestinian organizations made speeches in both English and Arabic, emphasizing that this event should not be viewed in isolation, but as part of an ongoing practice of displacement, murder and elimination in East Jerusalem on the part of the Israeli settler state.
It was also affirmed that people in the United States must be especially attuned to these issues given the massive amount of military aid delivered to Israel each year which becomes realized in the guns, rubber bullets and gas canisters being used in East Jerusalem right now.
“Unacceptable,” was the word ultimately used to describe Israel’s actions as measured by any standard of dignity or human rights.
Chicago will continue to stand with Palestine and say: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
