Around 200 protestors met on the steps of the Texas Capitol at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon in a “Gaza is Not for Sale” rally and protest organized by the Palestine Solidarity Collective. Protestors chanted and listened to speeches from organizers and community members before starting their march downtown at 4:15 p.m. The group stuck to the sidewalk as police vehicles blocked main roadways from traffic and protestors alike.
“Donald Trump, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” chanted the crowd.
This demonstration comes after the announcement of President Donald Trump’s plan to purchase Gaza and displace around 2 million Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt.
Ammer Qaddumi is a fourth-year economics and government major at UT and an active leader of the PSC. He said that, with the current administration, protesting and mobilizing is just as important now as it’s ever been.
“It’s a different circumstance now than it was last year, but the need for action and the need for education is still ever present,” Qaddumi said. “It’s unfortunate that we still have to contend with things like (this), but we must, and we must push on just like the people of Gaza have been pushing on.”
Qaddumi was arrested last April during the campus protests. Though all charges against Qaddumi were dropped, the university suspended him for participating in the campus demonstrations. He said that this last year and a half has been traumatizing as a Palestinian student on campus and beyond.
“The images and the videos that we saw coming out of Gaza throughout the last year and a half have been some of the most scarring images we’ve seen in our lifetimes,” Qaddumi said. “It’s made even more traumatic by the fact that our country and our university and institutions and companies across our country (have been) actively complicit in that.”
Though Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal on Jan. 19, there have been multiple reports that Israel has violated the agreement many times by air striking and sniping civilians and blocking aid from entering Gaza. Last week, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, threatened to “open the gates of hell” by further violating the agreement and sending troops into Gaza this past weekend if Hamas didn’t release more hostages.
“A lot of people might have the misconception that, ‘oh, the war is over, so everything’s back to normal now (and) there’s no need to be upset anymore,’” Qaddumi said, “but firstly, the Zionist regime is not complying with the ceasefire, and secondly, they’re still imposing a brutal occupation that still kills Palestinians on a daily basis.”
With the backdrop of the Texas Capitol behind them, Sunday’s protestors chanted for a free Palestine and called out the U.S. for its complicity in what United Nations experts are calling a genocide in Gaza. The group declared that Palestine could not be bought or sold.
“Trump announced (his) intentions to ethnically cleanse the people of Gaza,” said Zainab Haider, a member of PSC, as she addressed the crowd. “We’re here to say Gaza is not for sale. Gazans have made it clear they will remain … they will remain and they will rebuild.”
As the protestors marched, their chants echoed down the streets of downtown Austin. Children in puffy coats and winter hats were pushed in strollers and pulled on scooters. Dogs ambled alongside their owners on leashes. Palestinian flags blew in the 50 degree wind.
“I think there is a lot of destruction that has happened that really needs action (from) individuals to hold Israelis accountable,” said Millen, a participant in the protest who requested to use their first name for safety purposes.
After circling down 11th Street, San Jacinto Street, 8th Street and Lavaca, the group marched past a line of state troopers surrounding the governor’s mansion. They ended their march back on the Capitol steps– flags waving and protest signs held high.
“It’s been going on for 70 something years, I don’t think a ceasefire should be the end of the conversation,” Millen said. “I think that it’s going to be ongoing until something is actually done for the Palestinians and their right to their land.”
