WASHINGTON – Thousands of protesters are expected to attend a rally in the nation’s capital on Saturday in support of Palestinian rights and an immediate end to Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The event commemorates the 76th anniversary of what is called the Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe, and refers to the exodus of some 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from what is now Israel when the state was created in 1948.
Rally organizers, in an unusual move, did not request any permits from the National Park Service, which oversees the National Mall. These permits, which include turnout estimates, are a traditional step for large rallies or protests.
“Permits are required for any organized activity to ensure the safety of the public and participants, protect park resources, and maintain a celebratory atmosphere when appropriate,” said Mike Litterst, the agency’s chief communications officer for the National Mall. “However, if no permit application has been filed, we make every effort to support the First Amendment rights of all visitors to the areas we protect, with priority given to safety and protection of park resources.”
In the absence of permit applications, there have been no estimates as to the size of the protest, and the Park Service no longer provides official crowd estimates for gatherings on the National Mall.
In January, thousands of pro-Palestinian activists flooded the National Mall in one of the largest protests in recent memory in the District of Columbia.
This year’s event is fueled by anger over the ongoing siege of Gaza. The latest war between Israel and Hamas began when Hamas and other militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostages. Palestinian militants still hold around 100 prisoners and the Israeli military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The demonstration is also being fueled by anger caused by the violent crackdown on several pro-Palestinian protest camps at universities across the country. In recent weeks, long-term camps have been broken up by police at more than 60 schools, including George Washington University, not far from the White House.
In addition to pressuring Israel and the Biden administration for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza, protesters are expected to push for the right of return for Palestinian refugees — a long-standing Israeli red line in decades of stop-start negotiations.
After the Arab-Israeli war that followed the establishment of Israel, Israel refused to allow them to return because this would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within Israel’s borders. Instead, they have become a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers around 6 million, with the majority living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the occupied West Bank. Israel. In Gaza, refugees and their descendants represent around three-quarters of the population.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
