500 Muslims rally for Palestine

ABOUT 500 Muslims on Sunday afternoon marched around Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, in support of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip who are caught in the middle of a conflict between Israel and militant group Hamas. The march was organised by the Islamic Missionaries Guild.

The protesters walked once around the savannah and assembled to hear speeches from various guild leaders.

Some waved Palestininian flags and displayed placards while others chanted "Free Palestine" and later replied to platform speakers with chants of "Allah u Akbar!" (God is great).

On October 7, Hamas militants crossed the border into Israel and killed hundreds of Israelis ,including men, women and children mainly at three kibbutz (collective farms). Some 260 young adults were also killed at a music festival.

The Israeli military responded with air strikes on 17 Hamas targets, later telling civilians in the Gaza Strip to flee south, amid speculation of an impending ground invasion into Gaza.

Some 2,670 Palestinians including men, women and children, plus militants, have been killed, with 9,600 wounded and a million people displaced.

Guild representative Manwar Ali gave a history of the conflict, saying originally under British rule, Jews and Arabs had lived well together in Palestine.

In 1945, an influx of more Jews led to the Nakba (cataclysm) in which 750,000 Palestinians had to flee, ending up as refugees in other countries, including Egypt.

Ali claimed that since then, Israelis have continued to kill, oppress and harass Palestinians who have remained in the Gaza Strip, lamenting, "The Nakba never stopped."

He said Muslim leaders worldwide have been sleeping amid all this injustice, with a Jewish-controlled international media facilitating lies and cover-ups, and "talk but no action" by the UN. "It is apartheid," Ali charged.

Claiming Palestinians used to own 93 per cent of the land but now own less than ten per cent, Ali said Israelis wish to take the rest of the Palestinians' land.

Mufti Abrar Ali, also of the guild, in his address, said Allah commands Muslims to stand up against any form of oppression and loss of innocent lives.

He told listeners Palestine was their state and their actions could affect that place.

Imtiaz Ali, guild president, said Gaza was roughly the same size as Tobago and had about two million inhabitants. He likened Israel's call for Palestinians to move from north to south Gaza to asking two million people to move from Charlotteville to Scarborough.

He said Palestinians and Israel had fought nine wars since 1987, with no end in sight, because there was no justice.

He too claimed that Palestinians daily endure ethnic cleansing, apartheid and harassment by Israel.

Ali said Israel's purported right to defend itself now involved killing not just Hamas members but any Palestinian. He added, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter!

"We won't get into whether we support Hamas or not. We are here to support the struggle and resistance of the Palestinian people."