Thousands March in D.C. Gaza Protest
Some 3,000 protesters and activists marched from the State Department across Constitution Avenue and down to Chinatown to voice their disapproval of Israel's bombardment of Gaza, a campaign now into its fifth day. NBC4 reports that activists — organized by the D.C.–based Act Now to Stop War & End Racism Coalition — chanted "Stop U.S. Aid to Israel" and "Free, free Palestine!"
Just over a year ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice organized a Middle East peace conference close to home. The November 2007 Annapolis Conference brought together Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and President George W. Bush — in addition to some 40 delegates from the Arab League, the United Nations, China, and Russia — to nail down a road map to peace between Israel and Palestine for 2008.
By summer 2008, those parties were at the very least still talking about peace. In a May article in the Israel daily Ha'aretz, Prime Minister Olmert signaled that he hoped that Israel would not need to "act against Hamas in other ways with military power that Israel hasn't yet started to use in a serious manner."
Today, Israel rejected a 48-hour truce and signaled that Israeli air and naval power would continue with the destruction of Gaza. With at least 370 Palestinians dead, dozens of rockets and mortar shells launched by Hamas into Israel, and Israeli officials declaring "all-out war" on Hamas in Gaza, the Annapolis Conference feels like a meetup from a different era.
Flickr user Bullneck uploaded photos from the march, which DCist has reproduced here.
