Dozens Pedal for Palestine

 

 Dozens of New Haveners cycled and spoke to draw public attention to the catastrophic destruction of life and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank regions of Palestine. The cyclists navigated a 7 mile route through the streets of New Haven. Speakers at 6 stops along the way highlighted the effects on Palestinian civil society in the areas of education, water sovereignty, press freedom and safety, health care, food sovereignty, and access to the sea. At each of the stops, professionals spoke on the effects of apartheid and genocide in their areas of expertise.

The cycling event was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven.

 

In her remarks, Jewish Voice for Peace member Ellen Rubin said: “Gaza is now the global epicenter of child/family suffering: It has the highest number of orphans, amputees and trauma victims on Earth Over 700 attacks on Health facilities have left more than 96% of Gaza’s hospitals destroyed or damaged

*Healthcare and aid workers have been targeted, killed, detained w/o charge, tortured & even murdered while in prisons”

Tagan Engel and Jamilah Rasheed are two longtime New Haven food and land justice activists who work everyday to protect the fundamental rights of every single human being to have food, clean water, and self determination. They together asked “Can you imagine if 4 times the population of New Haven were literally dying from starvation right now, and all the people in bordering towns had nothing to eat or drink for days on end - all while food and water could easily be brought in from Milford, Cheshire and Branford if the occupying government would allow it?”

The Narrative Project founder and CEO Mercy Quaye spoke to the need for activists to continue speaking truth to counter the silence and misinformation that is so prevalent in American mainstream media in reporting about Palestine.

We call on our members of Congress to sign on to H.R.3565, known as the Stop Arming Israel bill. To date, the legislation has 49 co-sponsors, but none in Connecticut. All of our members must support this critical legislation.