Numbers at rallies small, but participants fervent

Organizers billed it as a historic event bringing together people from across the country to protest the Israeli occupation, but Sunday's rally and march drew just upwards of 1,500 people to the Capitol's West Lawn on Sunday afternoon.

A smaller counterrally of Israel supporters, organized by StandWithUs just days before the main event, drew some 200 people to the National Mall, just across from the Capitol reflecting pool.

The main rally was co-sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United for Peace and Justice and endorsed by 300 other organizations nationwide. Its objective was to demand that the U.S. government stop "military, economic, diplomatic and corporate support for Israel's illegal military occupation" of Arab lands. And while a number of rally-goers said they thought Sunday's event would garner attention for their cause, some organizers and supporters admitted that they were disappointed by the crowd's size.

"We were hoping for a bigger turnout, we were hoping for 10,000," said rally speaker Mitchell Plitnick, director of education and policy of Jewish Voice for Peace. Many of the Jewish attendees at Sunday's anti-occupation rally, who made up a significant chunk of the crowd, were affiliated with JVP.

Asked if he was disappointed at the turnout, another rally speaker, Tony Bing of the American Friends Service Committee, simply replied, "Yeah."

Those who did gather at the Capitol carried signs, many of them created by the U.S. Campaign or UFPJ and reading "A Just Peace For Palestinians & Israelis" and "End U.S. Support for Israeli Occupation." Other signs, bearing the name of the far-left group ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and Racism), expressed support for the Palestinian right of return.

Homemade signs included slogans such as "Impeach AIPAC," "Zionism Is Racism, "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free" and "All Israel is Occupied Territory."

Speaker Mazin Qumsiyeh of the Palestinian American Congress referred to the "Israeli occupation of this Congress" and accused the "Zionist lobby" of taking the country to war in Iraq. Other speakers, though, concentrated more on urging rally-goers to make their anti-occupation views known to their members of Congress.

Many Jewish attendees wore JVP stickers that said, "Another Jew Against the Israeli Occupation." One of them was Eli, a 25-year-old D.C. resident who would not provide his last name. He said he had come to the rally "to say that the occupation has gone on long enough."

Eli said he believed many in the American Jewish community felt similarly, but are "muzzled" by fellow Jews into feeling that the "only acceptable stance is to support anything the Israeli government does."

Louisa Solomon of New York City, who works with the group Jews Against the Occupation, said that "the occupation is against Jewish values."

Numerous participants said they held no specific position on the form of a final settlement between Israeli and Palestinians whether that be a two-state solution, a one-state solution or something else but thought that nothing positive could occur until the occupation comes to an end.

Such a stance, though, likely reduced Jewish participation in the rally. Jewish peace activist Michael Lerner, for one, had criticized rally organizers earlier this year for not ruling out a one-state solution, which would in effect result in the dissolution of the state of Israel.

The most well-known speaker at the rally was comedian Roseanne Barr, who, via taped video, called for "the end of American taxpayer support of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands" and a "new policy based on equal rights for all."

Local restauranteur Andy Shallal, owner of Busboys & Poets and co-founder of the "Peace Cafe" with Theater J artistic director Ari Roth, told the crowd that Palestinians have been "ethnically cleansed, serially murdered and assassinated."

There is "a plan to create a new American-Israeli century and those who speak out will be squashed," he added.

Told Monday of Shallal's comments, Roth said those opinions are "reflective of voices in the Arab American world," which is why he believes it is valuable to be engaged in dialogue with Shallal.

"He can be a rough critic," said Roth, but he said Shallal supports Israel's existence and is committed to the "tenants of the Peace Cafe."

Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, said that that the movement to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq "must be tied" to ending "40 years of occupation."

"Some have said we weaken the anti-war movement" with such a linkage, but "we say the movement is stronger when we make this connection."

After the more than two-hour rally, participants marched from the Capitol to the Ellipse - with protesters from the pro-Israel counterrally on the sidelines. Both sides jeered at each other, with some counterprotesters yelling, "There is no Palestine. Jordan is Palestine," as police stood between them and ensured no physical altercations took place.

At the counterrally, Israeli and American flags were in full display, as participants toted signs with such slogans as "Fight Terror, Support Israel," "Israel seeks a partner in peace," "Hamas is the enemy, hate is the message" and "Israel is on the map to stay."

Few mainstream Jewish groups lent their names to the counterrally, and Ron Halber, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington's executive director, had told JTA last week that "when the media discusses the event, we don't want it to be about dueling protests."

Potomac's Barbara Leber, for one, was disappointed that the organized Jewish community did not come on board for the counterrally.

"If the Jewish community didn't want to have something defensive, it's a shame that they didn't have something major to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1967 war," she said.

Bethesda's Benjamin Feinblum and Rachel Anchors, who stood wrapped in an Israeli flag, also were disappointed that there wasn't greater Jewish community involvement.

"We have a very worthy message. I think the words of peace travel further than those of hate," Anchors said.

Feinblum disagreed with those who saw no need for a counterrally.

"We need to fight when the attitudes are forming, not when the guns are aimed at our heads. We need to join in solidarity in every way possible so they know we're here to stay," he said.

The bulk of the counterrally's formal speakers were not Jewish. Most speakers condemned terrorism, Arab aggression and Islamic fascism, with some, like Christians' Israel Public Action Campaign president Richard Hellman, citing the biblical imperative for the Jewish people to live in the land of Israel.

"Here's my weapon," he said, brandishing a small Bible. "This weapon says God gave the land to the Jewish people," said Hellman, who also called a two-state solution a "vision from hell."

StandWithUs executive director Roz Rothstein, who led the crowd in a rallying cry of "Israel lives," stated, "The people across the street are wrong."

The dispute, she said, is not about Israeli occupation. "It is about continued persecution of the Jews, this time in their own homeland," Rothstein said.

Eric Fingerhut is a WJW staff writer; Debra Rubin is editor.