TINLEY PARK, Ill.—While the American public settled down to a feast in recognition of the Thanksgiving holiday, described by activists as a settler colonial celebration of conquest and murder, several thousand Muslims, Christians, Jews, organizers and activists gathered in a Chicago suburb Nov. 27 to call for an end to the genocidal war against Palestinians launched by the settler colonial state of Israel.
The 18th annual convention of the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) took place Nov. 27-29 at the Tinley Park Convention Center under the theme “Beyond Survival: Resisting Genocide.”
More than 60,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed by Israeli artillery since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis and 254 captives were taken.
Conference participants complained that the international community has stood by even as they have defined the destruction as genocide, and the U.S. administration has vetoed nearly every UN resolution calling for a ceasefire.
Israel employs a system that decides who is allowed in or kept out of Palestinian territories, activist Amira Daoud said, during a panel on testimonies from the West Bank.
Palestinians must travel through checkpoints to get from one point to another and can be denied at any time, she said, describing the condition as “a deliberate system of apartheid, displacement and control.” Ms. Daoud said her grandfather’s home is currently occupied by a European Jewish family.
Panelist Dr. Nida Sahouri said a means of displacement and control implemented by Israeli soldiers is the destruction of olive trees that Palestinians use for income. Destruction of trees on her family’s land this year resulted in harvesting one large container instead of the more than 30 containers of a normal harvest, she said.
It’s normal for Israeli soldiers to displace a family from their home and leave it ransacked once they leave, she added.
Conference participants said the incursion of settler communities and security checkpoints accelerated after the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. In years past, settlers feared coming into Palestinian neighborhoods, but today they are more brazen than ever.
“It’s interesting how American politicians talk about annexation of the West Bank as if it’s a future thing,” said AMP member Naveen Ayesh. “Every single day.
There are incidents of settlers entering Palestinian villages, intimidating or assaulting residents, damaging homes and setting cars on fire.” The Israeli military announced they will uproot 200 trees near her family’s village, which means “they’re preparing to steal more of our land,” she said.
As proof, participants referenced a plan recently announced by the Israeli government to establish a settlement in the West Bank that would ultimately split it in half.
“What will happen after that?” panelist Saleh Akhras asked. “Once you split it, it is easier to consume. They want to fragment the West Bank into smaller pieces, so it is easier to take over.”
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, has consistently warned that Israel will never have peace structured on injustice. Minister Farrakhan described the reasons for the slaughter in Gaza and the evolving threat to other nations in the region.
“Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu has a vision of Eretz Israel. Several states over there, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, they intend to annex that to what is called ‘Greater Israel,’” said Minister Farrakhan, in a message entitled “What Does Allah.
The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East?” delivered on Feb. 25, 2024, at the Nation of Islam’s Saviours’ Day convention in Detroit.
Who will hold Israel accountable?
Speaker after speaker reiterated the importance of supporting legislation to hold the Israeli government accountable for its atrocities. Josh Paul, a former State Department official and director of A New Policy think tank.
Said the National Defense Authorization Act, versions of which are in the House and Senate, puts weapons stockpiles into Israeli hands and incorporates Israeli technologies currently used against Palestinians into U.S. national security systems.
He also called for support of the Genocide Bill introduced by Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-12th), calling for the American government to label Israeli atrocities as genocide.
Political analyst Josh Ruebner emphasized support for Block the Bombs legislation sponsored by Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-3rd). Passage would prevent the Trump administration from sending artillery to be used in Gaza.
“Blocking weapons to Israel is no longer the ‘third rail’ of U.S. domestic politics. It’s a mainstream issue supported by a supermajority of all Americans,” he said.
The Nov. 17 UN Resolution 2803 potentially squashes Palestinians’ hopes for statehood, according to renowned political scientist Dr. Norm Finkelstein. The three main components favor Israel and stealthily shut any door to statehood for Palestinians.
The resolution’s three main elements create:
a Board of Peace headed by U.S. President Donald Trump;
an International Stabilization Force;
a political roadmap to statehood that must be approved by Israel.
Palestine’s entire history was wiped out “in the blink of an eye on November 17” with the resolution, Dr. Finkelstein said. The resolution doesn’t specify benchmarks for “successfully” completing reforms, it conditions future political progress on advancement of Gaza redevelopment, which can take decades, and it allows Israel to retain occupation of 53% of Gaza, he said.
Solutions involve creating an “internal revolt” at the UN to call for repeal of the resolution. The ICJ (International Court of Justice) could be asked to rule that the resolution is illegal, which would create a confrontation with the international court and the UN Security Council.
He said, while urging college students to fight for their academic right to free speech on college campuses which was “stolen by a gang of Jewish supremacist billionaires” who threatened Ivy League colleges with withholding of alumni contributions during the controversy over alleged anti-Semitism on college campuses a year ago.
Lastly, he called for the election of candidates who address the needs of 80% of the people, calling it the “Mamdani Phenomenon,” after the successful campaign of New York’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
Speakers described an apartheid system that requires Palestinians to “carry papers” to travel in their own country, which has been partitioned into three areas—A, B, and C.
Area A is under Palestinian Authority (PA) control; Area B is controlled by the PA and Israeli authorities; Area C is fully controlled by Israel and contains most of the illegal settlements, outposts and military sites.
An effective tactic of the anti-genocide movement has been the 20-year campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel, said AMP Education Coordinator Terek Khalil.
The campaign has forced companies to leave the Israeli market, educate the public about government and corporate complicity in the genocide, and called for divestment of pension funds from companies doing business with the Zionist state.
Unilever, owner of ice cream brands like Ben & Jerry’s, which had been doing business in Israel, is getting out of the ice cream business because of BDS pressure, he said.
“American companies are deeply entangled in sustaining Israel’s brutal occupation and profiting off the suffering of the Palestinian people,” he said, after naming companies like McDonald’s, Microsoft, and Google that have been impacted by BDS.
Goals of BDS are to end the occupation, restore the right of return for exiled Palestinians, and equality for all citizens.
“What does the Zionist Project look to achieve? Apartheid, genocide, commission of crimes against humanity and war crimes,” he said.
“I’m not sure what to expect, but what I know about our people is we don’t give up our roots or history. Even when the future feels uncertain, our connection to Palestine remains stronger than anything that falls on us,” added Ms. Ayesh.