By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Fremont, California, joined 16 other cities around the United States to stage Al Quds rally to express solidarity with the Palestinians.
Al Quds Day, officially called International Quds Day, is an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan that was initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians.
The Fremont rally participants gathered at the Lake Elizabeth Park and began march towards Peso Padre/Stevenson crossing where religious and civil advocacy leaders addressed the rally.
Rabbi Dovid Feldman from Neturei Karta International flew from New York to attend the Fremont Rally. Rabbi told the rally that we have gathered here today to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people who are suffering for the last 70 years. “They are being killed, oppressed and displaced from their land.”
About the sufferings of the Gaza people who are under siege for the last 10 years, Rabbi Dovid Feldman said he personally visited Gaza. He is an eye witness to what is going on in Gaza. “It is said, it is catastrophic, it is naqba.”
Neturei Karta Jewish group believes that the true Jews are against dispossessing the Arabs of their land and homes. According to the Torah, the land should be returned to them.
Neturei Karta opposes the so-called "State of Israel" not because it operates secularly, but because the entire concept of a sovereign Jewish state is contrary to Jewish Law. “The world must know that the Zionists have illegitimately seized the name Israel and have no right to speak in the name of the Jewish people!”
According to Neturei Karta, “Jews are not allowed to dominate, kill, harm or demean another people and are not allowed to have anything to do with the Zionist enterprise, their political meddling and their wars…. The true Jews remain faithful to Jewish belief and are not contaminated with Zionism.”
Dr. Haten Bazian of UC Berkeley, in his speech said it is an important gathering because it signifies our unity and Palestine as a symbol of Muslim unity as well as of those who are against oppression.
Dr. Bazian pointed out that the stoking wars, try to get conflicts among the Muslims, invasions and interventions has been the story of colonialism and imperialism for the last 200 years. “This policy is centered on divide and rule”.
The Speakers at the rally also included Imam Nabi Raza Abidi of SABA Islamic Center San Jose, Syed Hadi Yassin of Islamic Center of Zahra, Pleasanton and Maulana Wahidi of Fatimiyyah Islamic Center Hayward.
The rally participants were carrying placards with slogans: End of Zaionism=End of Terrorism=Peace; Yes to Quran, Yes to Torah, Yes to Bible, No to Zionism; Free Al Aqsa Mosque; Free Jerusalem, Free All Palestine; No Peace No Justice; Authentic Rabbis always opposed Zionism and the State of Israel; Yes to Muslims, Yes to Jews, Yes to Christians, No to Zionism.
One placard read: Free Sheikh Salman. The Saudi scholar, Sheikh Salman, who UN experts have described as a "reformist," was imprisoned in 2017, shortly after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a crackdown on dissent and imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the kingdom's Gulf neighbor, Qatar.
According to Muslim Congress Organization, Al Quds rallies were scheduled in the following US cities: New York, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Dearborn, Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle, Orlando, Portland, Salt Lake City, Durham, Washington D.C., Phoenix and Tampa.
In North America, Al Quds rallies were held in three cities of Canada: Ottowa, Toronto and Calgary. Al Quds Day is internationally organized in over 80 countries annually, including western cities such as London, Berlin, and Toronto.
Rally in New York
Media reports indicate that over 100 people gathered in Times Square on May 31 to observe the International Day of Al-Quds.
The speakers addressed different topics, from the United States’ role in the occupation to other examples of intervention in the Middle East and around the world.
Joe Catron, of the group Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Network, read a statement from Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that stated, “The goal of every struggling revolutionary prisoner, whether in the prisons of the U.S., the Philippines, Turkey or the Zionist jails in Palestine, is to obtain freedom, not a momentary amelioration of torture.”
The rally ended with a round of passionate chants. The action was organized by Free Al Quds, and included speakers from Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Network, International Action Center, Within Our Lifetime, Decolonize This Place, and others.
Deal of the Century
This year's Al Quds Day rallies were held as the Trump White House is promoting the June 25-26 meeting in the Gulf state of Bahrain as what is described as the first phase of its Mideast peace plan.
That plan, whose specifics have yet to be released, supposedly includes large-scale investment and infrastructure work in the Palestinian territories, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries, according to the Associated Press. The plan's political vision has not been outlined, but glimpses of the plan suggest it sidelines or ignores the longstanding goal of independence and has already been rejected by Arab and Muslim leaders. The Arab and Islamic summits held in Mecca recently categorically rejected the so-called peace plan dubbed as the deal of the century.
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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