Chicago Steps Up Palestine Protests as Rebellion Roils West Bank, Gaza Death Toll Tops 800

(From the Coalition for Justice in Palestine)

Local families with roots in West Bank among organizers of protest in wake of Israeli massacre at UN school and ongoing assaults on Gaza neighborhoods.

Protest will be held Saturday, July 26, Congress & Michigan, in Chicago at 3 P.M.

As the death toll in Gaza continues to rise amid growing international outrage at the civilian slaughter, Chicagoans — including many with families in the West Bank, which is roiled in protest — will protest on Saturday at 3PM against the ongoing U.S-funded Israeli massacre. Protesters are assembling at Congress and Michigan in Chicago.

Chicago’s protests against the Israeli assault on Gaza’s civilians over the last two weeks have been among the largest in the world, and local community concern has only heightened in recent days not just over the crisis in Gaza but as the toll of deaths and injuries now grows in the West Bank. Israeli forces shot and killed least two protesters in the West Bank overnight, and hundreds more have been injured.

On Thursday, Israeli military forces rocketed a UN school as women and children waited in the courtyard to be ferried to safety by the Red Cross, killing at least 15 UN workers, women and children and injuring dozens more. According to human rights groups, by Thursday night the death toll from Israel’s Gaza assault had topped 800, with the vast majority civilians, including a third who are children. 5,300 have been wounded — again, mostly civilians according to human rights projects — with the number of dead and wounded rising literally moment by moment.
Israel has rocketed three hospitals in Gaza, as well as schools, health clinics, water treatment facilities and other civilian infrastructure. More than 100,000 have been displaced, with essentially no safe haven to retreat to within the bombarded Gaza Strip. Humanitarian projects are reporting critical shortages of medicines, food, water and other essentials.

This week, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel raised the prospect of another $225 million in aid to Israel, on top of more than $600 million in new aid approved earlier this month to support Israel’s war on the people of Gaza. Those funds come in addition to the billions of dollars in direct and indirect military aid that US taxpayers provide each year to Israel.

Saturday’s protest is being convened by the Coalition for Justice in Palestine, whose members include American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Chicago Islamic Center, Islamic Community Center of Illinois, Mosque Foundation, Palestinian American Community Center, Palestinian American Council, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)-Chicago, and United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN). The action is being supported by groups that include the ANSWER Coalition, the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, the Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, Jews for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the Palestine Solidarity Group.