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UMA Symposium on Israeli atrocities in Gaza:
Americans are losing civil rights because Palestinians are
losing rights under Israeli occupation: Dr. Paul Larudee
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
February 1, 2009
Dr. Paul Larudee, a leading activist in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and Co-Founder of the Free Gaza Movement says he believes that “Palestine will be freed in our life time.”
Dr. Paul Larudee was speaking at the United Muslims of America Symposium held on February 1, to highlight the plight and sufferings of the Palestinians who were the victims of the Israeli carnage. The event, that was also a fundraiser to help the Gazans, was held at San Francisco Bay Area’s most popular restaurant Chandni’s banquet hall.
Death and destruction is Israel's current Gaza policy. The US-backed 22-day Israeli carnage in Gaza massacred about 1400 Palestinians, of whom 412 were children and a hundred were women. More than 5,000 were injured, 1,855 of whom were children and 795 were women, according to UN sources.
Free Gaza
In an emotional speech Dr. Larudee said that we are not free unless Palestine is free. “We are all Palestinians…What happened to Palestinians can happen to everyone.”
Dr. Paul Larudee, a former Fulbright-Hayes lecturer in Lebanon, and contracted as US advisor to Saudi Arabia, who was among seven unarmed ISM volunteers wounded by Israeli military gunfire during a nonviolent protest in the West Bank on April 1, 2002.
Dr. Larudee argued that we should get our civil rights through human rights. “We should defend Palestinians rights so that they are able to spend normal life. Remember what Martin Luther King said: Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.”
He went on to say that we are losing rights in US through Patriot Act because Palestinians are losing their rights under Israeli occupation.
Two sisters, Darlene Wallach and Donna Wallach, from the Free Gaza Movement stole the show with their graphic and emotional presentation of their experience of Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians in Gaza which remains under economic blockade since June 2006.
American Darlene Wallach, Italian Vittorio Arrigoni, and Scottish Andrew Muncie had arrived by boat into Gaza in late August 2008 as part of the first Free Gaza delegation. They remained in Gaza working with the International Solidarity Movement alongside Palestinian fishermen, documenting any harassment by the Israeli navy.
Darlene recounted her abduction at gunpoint by Israeli navy commandos on November 18, 2008 while she was accompanying Palestinian fishermen 7 nautical miles off the coast from Deir al-Balah. Darlene was sent to Tel Aviv prison and later deported to New York. This was her second arrest by the Israelis. Darlene Wallach was arrested during protests in the occupied West Bank in 2002.
Israel failed to crush the will of Palestinians
Speaking about the history of the Israeli carnage in Gaza, Dr. Hatem Bazian, Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern Studies, U.C. Berkeley, said that the latest Israeli massacre of Palestinians and carnage in Gaza was a strategic decision by the US, Israeli, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to reverse the outcome of 2006 Gaza elections that gave victory to Hamas.
The objective is to discredit the Hamas like groups in the Muslim countries because according to a CIA analysis, if free elections are held, Islamic oriented governments would be winning in all the Middle Eastern/Islamic countries.
However, Dr. Bazian, who is also President of the American Muslims for Palestine,
stressed that Israeli carnage was aimed at crushing the will of the people but it failed to achieve its objective.
He pointed out that this was the first time since 1948 that Palestinians fought on their land without external help.
Alluding to the US policy of divide and rule in the Arab world, Dr. Bazian said that the US failed in dividing Shias and Sunnis. “We see collaboration of Sunni-Hamas and Shia-Hizballah. Similarly we see collaboration between Shia-Iran and Sunni-Turkey.”
Dr. Bazian urged the people to become proactive. “Don’t remain silent. You have the right to dissent.”
Whatever is good for Israel is good for US?
Jalal Shreim, a community activist speaking about the Israeli atrocities against the people of Gaza emphasized that “we must stand against injustice and aggression anywhere in the world.”
He argued that Israeli massacre against the innocent Palestinian children, women and men was possible only because of US support. He said the State Department is run under the wrong notion that whatever is good for Israel is good for US.
He went on to say that Washington has the largest foreign lobby in the world and that is the Israeli lobby. This lobby led the US into a useless war in Iraq which contributed to the current economic crisis.
Shreim said that we should free all politicians from the Israeli agenda. However, he said that the Israeli lobby is so powerful that Bush senior did not get the second term because he did not take care of the Israeli agenda. His son Bush junior learnt a lesson and we now all see what he has done.
He thanked sisters Darlene Wallach and Donna Wallach for supporting the Palestinian cause. He also thanked Dr. Paul Laurudee of the Free Gaza Movement the Palestinian people.
Islamic Relief USA
Hamayoun Jamali said that donations would be channeled through the Islamic Relief charity organization. With graphics, Jamali explained the global relief work of the Islamic Relief.
Islamic Relief Worldwide was founded in 1984 in response to the famine in Africa. For the fifth consecutive year, Islamic Relief USA has been awarded with a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator, the largest charity evaluator in the United States.
Charity Navigator aims to "help charitable givers make intelligent giving decisions by providing information on over five thousand charities and by evaluating the financial health of each of these charities."
Jamali’s briefing on the Islamic Relief was apparently aimed at reassuring the Muslim donors that the FBI will not knock at their door for making a donation as the Muslim charities remained a target of the Bush administration in the name of fighting “terror.”
Earlier, Shafi Rifai, the UMA President, welcomed the guests on behalf of his organization.
The program ended with a resolution for legal action against Israel for the International War Crimes Court. The resolution was proposed by Syed Rifat Mahmood, President of the American Institute of International Studies (AIIS). The resolution said “Investigation should be initiated within our American Government to determine the amount of responsibility of the war crimes in Gaza that are attributable to the United States.”
The resolution also that the US administration should be convinced to cease providing money to Israel for the purchase of weapons and aircraft used to destroy the Palestinian people. “Israel should pay restitution to the people of Gaza to rebuild their homes and to restore the infrastructure required to maintain the Gaza population.”
At the end of the symposium Dr. Rajab Ali, a community leader, conducted fund raising for Gaza.
Ahsan Baig, a prominent community activist, was mater of the ceremony.
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