Hundreds join pro-Palestinian rally in Paterson as violence flares in Middle East

Hundreds of people packed Gould Park in South Paterson on Tuesday to rally for Palestinians and call for an end to forced evictions of families in Jerusalem amid a deadly flare-up of violence in the region.

The crowd waved flags and placards calling to save Sheikh Jarrah, the East Jerusalem neighborhood where families face eviction by settlers, creating a rallying cry for Palestinians who say it’s part of a larger Israeli effort to push them out.

“How would you feel if someone arrived at your doorstep, in your house — and you’ve lived there for 20-plus years — and said they were taking your house? Haram,” Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh said, using the Arabic word for forbidden or a shame. “This is a civil rights issue. This is a human rights issue.”

The rally followed tensions that began a month ago when Israel moved to block some Palestinian gatherings at the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. A plan to evict dozens of Palestinians from an east Jerusalem neighborhood added fuel to confrontations. 

Hundreds of Palestinians were injured when Israeli police stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, firing rubber bullets and stun guns at people who threw stones.

In the past two days, Hamas militants fired hundreds of rockets at Israel, sending people into bomb shelters, while Israel responded with airstrikes over Gaza.

The death toll grew Tuesday to at least 35 Palestinians, including 10 children, and five people in Israel.  

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The names of some of the deceased were read aloud by Abire Sabbagh, community engagement coordinator at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, which organized the rally.

“We’re all here because we’ve been following what’s happening in Palestine during the last couple of weeks,” Sabbagh said. “We’re angry, we’re concerned, we’re tired of seeing our people under attack, treated as second-class citizens, being pushed out of their homes, all while most of the world is silent.”

Dr. Ben Chouake, president of Norpac, a pro-Israel political action committee based in Englewood Cliffs, said Israeli police were taking necessary action by going into Al-Aqsa to find people who had rioted and thrown stones and when they fired back at Gaza.

“What is the point of shooting rockets at people? You’re not going to win a war,” he said, saying hate was driving rocket fire from Gaza.

At the rally, seven members of the Paterson City Council and elected officials from nearby Haledon, Clifton and Prospect Park also came to show their support. The crowd, which spilled into the street, also included people from local chapters of Black Lives Matter and Jewish Voice for Peace, which publicly supported the rally.

“We know occupation, we know colonization, we know police brutality,” said Zellie Thomas, an organizer with Black Lives Matter of Paterson.

Across the world, the plight of families in Sheikh Jarrah have captured attention, especially on social media. The families have lived there for decades. Settlers have relied on an Israeli law that allows Jews to reclaim land owned by Jews before 1948 to try to evict the families — a law that human rights groups have said is part of a discriminatory set of laws and policies.

The law allows Jews to reclaim such lands but bars Palestinians from recovering property they lost in the same war, even if they still reside in areas controlled by Israel. Palestinians also note that under international law, Israeli courts have no jurisdiction over the residents of east Jerusalem, an occupied territory.

Israel has maintained that the dispute over Sheikh Jarrah is a private real estate matter. Chouake said the settlers are the rightful owners and this is a landowner dispute, but that the Palestinians “have made it into something entirely different.”

Amid the deaths, Palestinians said they felt heartened that they were receiving support from some progressive elected officials, diverse social justice groups and even celebrities — support that was politically taboo in years past.

Singers The Weeknd and Dua Lipa, model Bella Hadid and actresses Viola Davis and Natalie Portman, who is Israeli, are among those who have posted in support of Palestinian families.

“It’s more acknowledged among everybody, not just Palestinians,” said Narehan Mohammad, 24, of North Bergen. “It will make a difference.”

Hannan Adely is a diversity reporter for NorthJersey.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: adely@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @adelyreporter