Israeli-Palestinian Protests Converge Downtown
Updated 3:18 PM CST, Mon, Jan 26, 2009
The crisis in the Middle East was felt at home Friday, as hundreds of people converged downtown in protest of the increasing violence.
More than 400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as Israel tries to root out Hamas members who had been firing rockets into southern Israel for several weeks.
Israeli troops in bases in southern Israel are awaiting orders to invade Gaza Friday evening. [Read More...]
"Israel's finally taking the gloves off and trying to respond. Any country would that's experiencing attacks on its sovereign territory," one man said.
But pro-Palestinian supporters see Israel's attack, which began seven days ago after a six-month truce, as offensive.
"The Holocaust victims, who have been oppressed and persecuted, became the oppressors and persecutors," one man said.
Several dozen pairs of shoes were laid out by pro-Palestinian protestors to represent "all the shoes of those who have been killed in Gaza," according to one marcher. "We stand by them and we are against Israeli aggression in Gaza."
"In the U.S., all you ever hear is the Israeli side, and nobody hears the Palestinian side, and you can't take things out of context that this is an occupation," one marcher said. "It's wrong to just fight a defenseless people. They don't have an army, they don't have anything."
The pro-Palestinian protestors ended their march outside the Israeli consulate on Wacker Drive.
While both sides seemed to agree that bloodshed and life loss only makes the conflict work, no one seems to agree on what the solution may be.
"I think it's sad. But it's war, and there's always bloodshed in war," a woman said.
Similar protests were held in Washington, D.C. and around the world.
First Published: Jan 2, 2009 9:14 PM CST
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