'Fight for all oppressed people': Demonstration in Tempe held in support of Palestine

Arizona Rally for Palestine invited the community to their rally and march “All Out for Palestine” on Saturday morning on Arizona State University’s main campus in Tempe.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was echoed from the crowd as they marched over the bridge on University Drive receiving honks of support from cars passing by.

The event was an effort to spread awareness about the suffering in Palestine, and drew in people from all ethnicities and faiths including native Palestinians, such as May Ratsi. Ratsi has been living in America since 1981 and said her attendance at the rally was an effort to fight against the atrocities happening in her homeland.

“I feel sad. I feel frustrated at the world for being unfair and unjust to the Palestinian people. I am frustrated at our government for giving billions of dollars and weapons to bomb the children in Gaza. … I think that's why we are all here,” she said looking around at fellow protesters.

This rally came after a $105 billion foreign aid request by President Joe Biden on Friday that consisted of $14.3 billion in funding for Israeli military assistance, according to the White House Fact Sheet.

The rally also followed a week of deadly air strikes in Gaza. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office of High Commissioner, on Tuesday morning an Arab hospital in Gaza City was struck, killing 470 people and injuring many others, although Hamas and Israel have traded blame for the attack. Reuters reported on Thursday that an unclassified U.S. intelligence report estimated the death toll was "probably" between 100-300.

The same day there were deadly strikes at a school located at a Palestinian refugee camp which served as a shelter to 4,000 some people, the UN reported.

Throughout the rally, attendees from the organization and other passionate leaders, poets and community members gave speeches to unify, comfort, and give hope to the attendees.

Anahit Kirakosian, a community leader gave a speech uniting other marginalized groups to the Palestinian struggle. As a Mexican American, Kirakosian spoke out and showed her support for Palestine through the idea of shared suffering.

“The Palestinian struggle is not isolated; it is a part of a larger interconnected web of pain and injustice. The struggle of the Palestinian people is connected between all people of color. The Mexican community has faced and still faces the challenges of immigration, discrimination, and injustice.”

Kirakosian encouraged the crowd to become empowered through their collective struggle and use it as a means of connection to fight for all oppressed people.

“By acknowledging the struggle of the Palestinian people, we take a vital step towards justice for everyone. It is through the strength of our collective struggle that we can make a lasting difference for the Palestinian people and the greater cause of global justice,” she said.

Although this rally came in large part in reaction to the recent events in Palestine and Israel, speaker and poet Ahmad Abdallah reminded the crowd of the longevity of the Palestinian struggle.

As the last speaker on the steps of Old Main on ASU’s campus he said, “Don't tell me you care for civilian lives and innocent deaths. Otherwise, you would have lost your voice screaming for 75 years.”

According to the Global Conflict Tracker, Israel and Palestine have been in ‘conflict’ since 1947. The UN began tracking deaths in the conflict since 2008, with data showing 5,600 Palestinians have died, and 250 Israelis died during the same time frame up until 2020.

Hamas' assault in southern Israel on Oct. 7 was deemed by President Biden as the deadliest for Jewish people since the Holocaust. The United Nations has not updated their death and injury count within recent events, however, according to Israeli authorities, at least 1,400 people have died and 3,400 others have been injured in Israel as of Tuesday. As of Wednesday the Palestine Health Ministry has reported 3,785 deaths and more than 12,000 injuries since the Hamas' attack on Oct. 7.

“You can kill every person in Palestine, but you'll never kill the Palestine in every woman and man,” Abdallah said followed by cheers from the crowd.

The event ended following the last lines of his poem.

“When we are up here saying, ‘Free Palestine’ — it’s not a demand, it's a spoiler."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Demonstrators at Tempe rally call for Palestine support