|
Report on July 23, 2006 Rally | See
Kansas City Star report on the rally
KC area Muslims call for end to violence in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel by Janet Baker Flags of Lebanon and Palestine held high, colorful signs such as Peace is Patriotic, people distributing pamphlets, cars driving by and honking their support for over the 500 men, women and children gathered...some men wearing T-shirts that read "END THE OCCUPATION," women, young and old, many in the traditional Mideast dress and children, lots of wonderful children.
This was the scene on the Plaza last Sunday afternoon, July 23, 2006 at the J.C. Nichols Fountain.
Several American peace activists stood in solidarity
with people from Lebanon and Palestine at the rally sponsored by
Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and Citizens for Justice
in the Middle East.
Often criticized for not speaking out, Muslims came
together. There were those from Jordan, Syria, India and Pakistan
joined by their peace activists friends from Fairway, Leawood, Overland
Park, Lee's Summit and Kansas City. All were calling for an end to
the horrific violence; all were standing up for justice for the
entire Middle East region, Christians and Muslims together
supporting each other.
Matt Quinn, past president of Citizens for Justice in
the Middle East, asked, "Why is it all right for Israel to defend
itself, but not for other countries to defend themselves? " He went
on the proclaim that the root cause of the violence is the
occupation of Palestine.
JaaFar Fahda urged the soldiers to leave the
civilians alone. JaaFar had moved to the US from Lebanon in 1984.
He pointed out that that Lebanon represented 17 different religious
backgrounds and earlier they had lived together in peace.
Ahmad Amro spoke next and said, "Americans give Israel 15 million dollars a day. That's quite a contrast to the $200,000 a day given to those in the Palestinian territory, and added, "Even with money, there's no food to buy in Gaza." Also he lamented the large number of Palestinians in jail. He urged the crowd to replace the US government with those who saw the people of the Middle East as human beings.
Hussein Atie had just returned to Kansas City from
Lebanon with his family, which included two children ages 10 and 7.
He said with their American/Palestinian passports they were the last
to be evacuated. He noted that the military was not fighting as
much as they were just destroying.
Matt urged the crowd to get involved, write to
Congress, organize their own event. Andrea Whitmore currently
president of CJME closed this part of the rally by encouraging
everyone to attend the regional conference October 20-21, 2006.
Hosted by the church peace committee and CJME, the Sabeel
Conference which will be held at Village Presbyterian Church and
is titled "Ending the Silence: Voices from the Holy Land."
Fadi, president of the Kansas City Chapter of MAS
Freedom Foundation, calls our attention to the organization's pledge
"...to defend the rights of the Palestinian and Lebanese people and
to promote development of a U.S. foreign policy that embraces real
peace in the Middle East."
I do believe the demonstrators, people from all walks of life, brought that message to Kansas City last Sunday. |
||||||
News Reports on the large rally in Kansas City on Sunday, July 23 400-500 attended rally in the Plaza - Kansas City Star KC groups protest conflict
|