Thanks to the PSL for participating in as well as covering this special rally in Rhinebeck for Palestinian rights.
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More than 80 pro-Palestine activists marched through the streets of the Hudson Valley town of Rhinebeck, NY, to shout their support for Palestine in the face of Israeli brutality and oppression.
The
demonstration was sponsored by Middle East Crisis Response (MECR),
Hudson Valley BDS, Jewish Voice for Peace–HV, Peace and Planet News, NYC
Veterans for Peace, and New Paltz Women in Black. The Albany/Hudson
Valley Branch of PSL was well represented by a large and spirited
contingent. Students from three area universities were an impressive
presence: Students for Justice in Palestine from Vassar and Bard, and
the Black Alliance for Peace and the Black Students Union from SUNY New
Paltz.
The
action began with a rally in the center of town – at the town’s only
traffic light. The Palestine movement has been building in numbers and
support in the Hudson Valley for many years, and there was a feeling of
camaraderie and optimism as members of the various groups reconnected or
met each other for the first time.
Across the street, half a dozen
pro-Zionist demonstrators waved Israeli flags in silence. This was a
departure from previous counter-demonstrations in Rhinebeck that were
loud and confrontational. Reflecting on the relative lack of opposition,
MECR organizer Fred Nagel remarked that times are changing in this
country, as public support for Palestine continues to grow.
To
chants of Free, Free Palestine, and From the River to the Sea,
Palestine Will Be Free, the crowd took to the streets. At a parking lot
on the main street, marchers gathered for a second rally.
Felice Gelman of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, gave a first-hand account of conditions on the West Bank. She spoke of the house demolitions, of children who worried that if they went to school, they would return to find their homes demolished.
Cheryl
Qamar, of Eyewitness Palestine and USA Palestine Mental Health Network,
recently returned from the Middle East. A psychiatric social worker,
she said, unforgettably, “There is no PTSD in Palestine. There is no
“Post”-traumatic. The trauma goes on. It is continuous.”
Bard students Majd and Ari, one Palestinian Muslim and one American Jewish, represented the college’s Students for Justice in Palestine. They spoke of the intergenerational nature of this Palestine movement and vowed that their generation would see freedom for Palestine.
On the march back to the original corner, every single one of us believed that to be true.
Free, Free Palestine!