By Kayode Crown
Hundreds gathered Sunday at Railroad Park in Birmingham in support of Palestine, calling for a cease-fire in the war between Hamas and Israel.
Laith Mekdad, a Birmingham resident, said every day he wakes up to messages from his family in Gaza of the next person who died. More than 100 people in his family, on both his mother’s and father’s sides, have been killed by the Israeli military since Oct. 7, he said.
Mekdad joined in the call for a ceasefire.
“Thirty thousand people brutally murdered in cold blood,” Mekdad said at the Sunday afternoon rally. (The death toll had reached more than 20,000 by Dec. 20, according to news reports.) “These are not just numbers. These are people. What crimes have the children of Gaza committed?”
Three months ago, on Oct. 7, Hamas militants killed about 1,300 people in Israel and captured nearly 200 others, triggering an all-out response by Israel’s military, including airstrikes and movement of tanks and troops into the Palestinian occupied territory of Gaza.
More than 200 people rallied Sunday, waving Palestinian flags, wearing keffiyeh scarves, and holding signs, including “No peace without justice.”
Hamza Abu-Hamdeh, who was born and raised in Birmingham, said he’s been overwhelmed by the solidarity and support for his community.
“We cannot stand by as millions of Palestinians are expelled from their land,” he said. “We want a ceasefire, but a ceasefire alone is not enough. We want justice.”
Danah, who declined to share her last name, talked about her experience as the daughter of Palestinian refugees during the rally.
“We have been screaming to the world that Palestinian lives matter,” she said. “This is not a political conflict or a religious issue. This is about human rights.”
Palestinian youth in the Birmingham community, with help from Birmingham chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America and Party for Socialism and Liberation, organized the event, which is the fourth since Oct 7, Abu-Hamdeh told AL.com.
The event lasted two hours.
The demonstration was to coincide with “three months since the initial reignition of violence,” the organizers said in a press release.
“Israeli officials have been internationally criticized for espousing dehumanizing rhetoric directed towards Palestinians, including statements that use genocidal language and display genocidal intent.”
Death toll estimates in the Gaza Strip range from 21,000 to 30,000, the organizers said in the press statement.
“Over 1.8 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip have been displaced and forced to become refugees on their own land,” the release said.
“In the West Bank, the death toll since October 7th has risen to over 300. Protestors call for a ceasefire, a lifting of the siege on Gaza, the release of all Palestinian prisoners, and a complete end to US aid to Israel.”
