Backers of the Israeli regime and the U.S. war drive in the Mideast organized a counterdemonstration of similar size.

Netanyahu, invited as part of the Robert Morris University Lecture Series, gave a speech supporting Washington’s moves toward war against Iraq. To protest his visit, a Committee for Peace in the Middle East was formed, based on university students, especially those from the Middle East, other opponents of Washington’s policies in the Mideast, activists at the local Islamic Center, and the Thomas Merton Center.

The pro-Palestinian demonstrators, joined by a busload from Youngstown, Ohio, sponsored by the Arab Community Center there, marched to Heinz Hall, where Netanyahu was speaking. They carried signs demanding "End U.S. Military Aid to Israel"; "End Israeli Occupation"; and "Self-determination for Palestinians."

Meanwhile, pro-Israel counterdemons- trators rallied beneath a banner declaring, "United We Stand," and waved Israeli and U.S. flags. Pittsburgh mayor Thomas Murphy joined their demonstration and addressed their rally.

The prowar demonstrators then marched to Heinz Hall and attempted to provoke supporters of Palestinian self-determination into a violent confrontation. When they failed, they entered the hall to hear Netanyahu.

Outside, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a rally, with speakers including historian Staughton Lynd, Edith Bell of Holocaust Survivors, and South African poet Dennis Brutus.

One of the speakers was Omari Musa, Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress in the 14th CD, who is active in the Committee for Peace in the Middle East. "We need to organize to oppose the war both in Palestine and in Iraq," Musa said. "We don’t see the Palestinians as victims; they’re fighters."

"The longshore workers on the West Coast are locked out by the bosses now," Musa continued. The threat of government strikebreaking against the dockworkers "shows that the war is here as well as abroad. Our main enemy is the U.S. government. We need to replace it with a government of workers and farmers that can end their wars."
 
 
Related article:
U.S., UK warplanes step up bombing in Iraq’s south
Two-sided assault on Palestinians  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home