Protesters decry Israeli air strikes in Gaza
Carrying signs and hoisting Palestinian flags high in the air, about 200 people gathered outside City Hall yesterday to protest Israel's attacks on Gaza.
Carrying signs and hoisting Palestinian flags high in the air, about 200 people gathered outside City Hall yesterday to protest Israel's attacks on Gaza.
Organized by the Philadelphia branch of the International Action Center, the rally was one of many demonstrations held across the country and the world yesterday to condemn Israel's air strikes.
In Philadelphia, students and activists urged the U.S. government to end its support of Israel, saying the foreign aid funds Israel's military tactics. "The tax money that we pay, to think that it is used that way is a great shame," said Ali Shaath, 25.
Shaath immigrated to Philadelphia from Gaza six years ago to run a flooring business. The events of the past week have made it difficult to be away, he said. "I have family. I wish I could be there," Shaath said.
The bombings, which began Dec. 27, have been one of the Mideast's most violent clashes in decades. The air strikes have killed more than 400 people and injured at least 1,700. United Nations observers have estimated that a quarter of the Palestinians killed were civilians.
Israeli warplanes are targeting the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been responsible for a growing number of rocket attacks in southern Israel. Israeli military planes flying over northern Gaza yesterday morning dropped leaflets warning residents to leave the area immediately, and ground troops and tanks entered Gaza in the afternoon.
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal had promised bloodshed if the Israeli ground troops moved in.
In front of City Hall, cars honked their support as members of the rally chanted, "Stop the killing! Stop the war!"
Samar Shraim, 19, whose family is from Palestine but moved to Jordan before she was born, said her friends in Palestine and Israel were equally horrified by the attacks.
"In the bigger scheme, it affects all of us," said Shraim, who came to the United States 10 years ago and is studying international relations at Community College of Philadelphia. "It's just so hard to believe this is even happening."
The conflict in the Mideast is hard to even talk about at times, Shraim said. Often, she said, people oversimplify the issues or focus on fragments of the overall picture.
Bert Strieb, 70, a semiretired professor at La Salle University, said America needed to exert some financial muscle over Israel.
"As long as Israel has the United States' backing, they have no reason to back down," he said.
