Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu puppets greeted AIPAC attendees near the Washington Convention Center (Photo: Alex Kane)
Washington, D.C.–Iran, Iran, Iran. Tensions between Israel and Iran over Iranian nuclear energy is dominating this year’s AIPAC conference. President Barack Obama’s speech yesterday to the annual conference was mostly devoted to Iran, and “announced no new initiatives” on the Israel/Palestine front, as Inter Press Service‘s Mitchell Plitnick reports. Similarly, as we reported, Jeffrey Goldberg spent 45 minutes interviewing Obama, and not one of the questions were about Palestine.
AIPAC and Benjamin Netanyahu may want to push the pesky Palestinian issue off of the agenda, but Occupy AIPAC is fighting against that desire.
As Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, put it in Foreign Policy:
Netanyahu himself surely appreciates the extent to which this comes in handy, in that focusing on Iran (although not attacking Iran) allows Israel to line up together with the West in the camp of the “good guys” for once, as opposed to in the doghouse on the Palestinian issue. Want a sense of just how well this distraction serves the greater Israel cause? Take a look at Goldberg’s latest interview with Obama for the Atlantic — 4,561 words and not one of them mentions the Palestinians or settlements.
While protesters from Occupy AIPAC have put stopping a potential Israeli strike on Iran at the top of their agenda, Palestine remains a key part of the discourse here.
Yesterday, Palestinian flags waved proudly at the demonstrations near the AIPAC conference; chants of “free, free Palestine” echoed in the streets of D.C.; young Palestinians danced dabka and blared Arabic music; and AIPAC delegates were greeted by mock checkpoints and settlements first thing in the morning. Clearly, Palestine remains important to the activists who have gathered in America’s capital to say no to AIPAC’s agenda.
The centrality of Palestine was underscored by an impromptu speech given by a young woman from Palestine who was in D.C. for Occupy AIPAC. She held up a sign that read, “Stop stealing our land.” (I didn’t grab her name, but I believe it was the woman who tweets under the moniker @Tweet_Palestine and blogs here.) As hundreds massed outside the Washington Convention Center to protest AIPAC, she grabbed a microphone and explained how Mustafa Tamimi was killed in the village of Nabi Saleh.
“Do you want them to kill our children?” she yelled, and explained how Palestinian children are terrorized by night raids conducted by the Israeli army. “Look at the faces of children. Remember the children you have killed.” Her speech was greeted by cheers from the protesters and stares from AIPAC delegates. But at least they heard the word Palestine.
The young woman was Ashira Hakan.
Here’s a photograph of the scene: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=342063862501964&set=a.341776445864039.72651.195473957160956&type=1&theater
I’ve been searching for a quality video, but have yet to find one.
My reflections on Occupy AIPAC:
Occupy AIPAC inspired me more than any other protest or demonstration that I have been a part of. So I wanted to share these experiences with the Mondoweiss crowd, as I believe that we can all learn methods and strategies from organizing from my experiences this weekend.
First off, it was the Palestinian women who were there at Occupy AIPAC who inspired me. Because of their actions, I’ll forever be changed for the better.
Allow me to elaborate.
Sunday was slated to be the day of action, with thousands of people attending the AIPAC conference at the DC Convention Center, and our hundreds gathering outside. Obama and Peres were scheduled to address the conference around 9:30, so Code Pink wanted folks to be there early.
I was there around 7:30, and I met up with a group about 50-strong. Some students among us went incognito, and distributed fact sheets about AIPAC to student leaders among the attendees. Others, such as Anne Wright, remained across the street from the convention center in the park, with banners, a simulation Apartheid wall, and a loudspeaker.
I was among fewer than a dozen who were directly confronting AIPAC attendees. Each encounter was as daunting as the next, as AIPAC attendees collectively dismissed my assertions of the lunacy of a strike on Iran.
As the group went into the convention center, our numbers grew as theirs diminished, finally ending with us confronting their stragglers, and then gathering ours signs for a demonstration to Obama’s motorcade en route to the convention center.
We all massed together, rehearsing chants, and staging ourselves appropriately for that one glance that we would get from Obama from inside of his limousine. Our angles had to be just right, so as to enhance visibility. The chants were, to be honest, rather drone. ‘Free Free Palestine!’, and ‘No War on Iran!’ chief among them. I tried my best to add rhythm and rhyme with lines such as ‘Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!’, and ‘1, 2, 3, 4, no to sanctions, no to war!’, but the flair was lost in repetition as we lingered around, badgered by the local police and relegated to a side street for a couple hours, awaiting the Obama motorcade.
Obama drove by, with some among us exchanging glances with Obama’s daughters as we screamed ‘Free Palestine!’, yearning for our words to have some reception.
Then I considered with some friends, ‘Should we get lunch now?’, thinking that our action for the morning had come to an end. Well, we did our best, Obama gave us a glance. Shall we call it a day, get some good food, and reflect on our movement?
Nancy of Existence is Resistance and Ashira Hakan grabbed two megaphones, and started leading chants. The pace was hurried, the chants organic and striving. With their energy, we quickly gathered steam and regrouped, collectivizing as we marched back from the side street to the front of the convention center. We screamed into the glass of the convention center, ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!’. My friend and co-conspirator, Evan Hoffman, banged his drum, and Nancy pointed the megaphone directly into the faces of AIPAC attendees.
Our pulsating crusade marched on, shaking the walls of the convention center. Then we marched right on to the steps of the convention center, peering in on attendees. The small police force at the mouth of convention center nervously held us back, as our numbers could have easily stormed through the building. They called for reinforcement, as we balanced our own passion with our consideration of the fact that, well, none of us wanted to get arrested today.
The chants continued, with ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!’ mixed with the Arabic version, ‘Miin al Mai’a la Mai’a, Falastine Arabiya!’, and ‘Free Free Palestine!’ all beating out of our hearts, with drums beating and fists raised.
Ashira and Nancy continued leading the chants. Ashira had arrived from Palestine just two days ago, and certainly the confrontation with police officers on the steps of the AIPAC convention is analogous in many ways to a confrontation with an IOF soldier on the hills of Bil’in and Nabi Saleh. Ashira spoke to this connection, and made everybody aware of exactly what AIPAC was promoting. In her impromtu speech, she spoke to her family losing their land, her brothers, sisters, and cousins being targeted, imprisoned, and in the case of Mustafa Tamimi, murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Then, as our several-hundred strong group beat with one collective heart on the steps of the AIPAC convention, many took to the microphone. Medea Benjamin, Former Colonel Ann Wright, and Udi, a former soldier of the IOF and current organizer of the Global Justice Working Group of Occupy Wall Street, all took to the microphone, speaking passionately and eloquently on just why we must occupy AIPAC.
Then the attendees began trickling out of the convention center. Code Pink assembled several signs and forums spanning the city block. In addition to speeches, the mock check point went back up, and then we went back to confronting the attendees of the conference.
I joined several of my friends – students from Temple SJP, friends from Philly BDS, Abbas from Al Awda, and Nancy and Ashira. We confronted every attendee that we came across as they made their way across the street. No, we would not let them escape the AIPAC conference with clean consciences. What they are supporting is despicable. They’re wrong.
I’ve never done this before. I’ve always preferred to engage those who are not involved with Israel and Palestine, and tried to inform them. I’ve never actively engaged and challenged those who conform to Zionism. This was very much out of my element. But as the blood continued to flow in me, and the fire and energy of my friends seethed within me, there was no stopping me.
I have read about Palestine, and been there myself, for a few years now. I know what is happening. And this was my opportunity to say, ‘No’, ‘Stop this’, and to confront those who are responsible for so much oppression.
Ashira was commenting to attendees, ‘You have blood on your hands!’, and they would literally look at their hands. This moment of hesitation on their part gave Ashira the opportunity to elaborate how their attending the conference amounts to support and complicity in Israeli crimes. And they will all be held responsible, when the day comes when Palestinians do have justice.
Then Nancy and my friend Kareema, from Philly BDS, confronted a man in his sixties. He struck back harshly to them, denouncing them and speaking about their mothers. Then, as fierce words were exchanged, he coolly put his finger to his lips.
‘Shhhhh’.
And he turned his back on Nancy and Kareema and walked away with a look of satisfaction on his face.
This lit me up. I’ve never before in my life confronted somebody like I did at this moment. I sprung. I jumped right in his face, ‘You do NOT speak to other people like that! Have some respect! You go right back over there and you speak to them! You have no dignity, no respect!’
It was so fucked up what he did. A white man attending the AIPAC conference feels entirely contented to shush Palestinian women as they are screaming for justice for their families. It goes back to all of the misogyny that you see against women in Israel, and all of the racism inherent in the Israeli position. Further, it exemplifies everything that I see wrong here in America. White men of wealth and privilege of given every opportunity to speak, while Palestinian women are silenced. Its our media, its in our movements, and its everywhere in society.
I’m not going to stand for it any longer. Any misogyny, racism, sexism, nationalism, or classism, I just simply won’t stand. I love these women, and I love people too much to allow for them to be silenced. I’m going to listen, and I’m going to ensure that others listen, because we all need to hear what they are saying.
At one point, a young man said that Ashira and Nancy were ‘too passionate’. I corrected him. We wouldn’t have been nearly as successful had they not been as passionate. Certainly, we can look to curtail some of the actions of our movements so as to avoid arrest. But by and large, it is Palestinian voices that will lead our movement, and dictate strategy and messaging. They are the ones that are suffering the most, and they know what we need. If we attempt to stifle their voices, we are only perpetuating the very system which we are seeking to dismantle.
The difference that I saw between Code Pink and the Palestinians at Occupy AIPAC was clear. Code Pink is standing up for justice, and asking for permission to dissent. For Palestinians, it isn’t a choice. Their families and friends are subject to extreme violence, and they need justice. There is no other option. Seems like a lesson to be learned by many within the Occupy movement.