Protesters walk eastbound on Michigan Avenue the afternoon of May 16, from Greenfield Road to Schaefer Road, with a planned return to the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, protesting Israeli attacks against Palestinians.
‘Palestinian lives matter, too’
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Protesters gathered outside the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center May 16 for a march along Michigan Avenue to Schaefer Road and back, to protest recent Israeli violence against Palestinians. The protest was the second in two days in east Dearborn.
The massive crowd, carrying Palestinian flags and signs, drew people of all ages, and while the crowd was predominately Arabic, people from other ethnicities, including a group of Bosnians, joined the throng, which was protected by both Dearborn and Michigan state police.
The recent escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence began May 6, when the Supreme Court of Israel ruled to evict four Palestinian families from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Other contributing factors include the Israeli closure of the Damascus Gate at the beginning of Ramadan, April 12, and the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque — the Temple Mount — May 17 by Israeli police.
Although the Israeli Supreme Court delayed the Palestinian evictions from Sheikh Jarrah for 30 days, violence quickly escalated, with rocket fire by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad into Israel, and Israeli Air Force strikes into Gaza, which targeted apartments and an office building.
The Palestinian death toll is at least 122, with a quarter of the deaths being children, while Israeli deaths are at least seven, with one child known dead.
Thousands of people have been injured, with Palestinians bearing the brunt of the casualties.
The ongoing conflicts in the region, since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, stems in part from the displacement of Palestinians.
Imad Hamad, American Human Rights Council executive director and himself a Palestinian refugee, said peace between Palestinians and Israelis will be illusive until Palestinians are granted basic rights.
“Israel has two choices: One state for all its citizens or two states for two peoples,” he said. “Israel wants a third option – an apartheid state. The human rights community considers apartheid the reality on the ground today. No one should allow that to continue.”
Hamad said his wish is for a peaceful co-existence.
“No one condones the killing of innocent life,” he said. “The value of human life is not determined by religion or nationality. Palestinian lives matter, too.”
Many protesters carry Palestinian flags during the march May 16 protesting Israeli attacks against Palestinians.