Pro-Palestinian protesters roar through New York City in giant Labour Day march

It should have been a quiet public holiday in New York City, but anti-war activists and pro-Palestinian protesters had other plans.

Thousands of people roared through Manhattan on Monday afternoon, chanting and screaming, blocking traffic and blaring vuvuzelas as they reminded the city that a devastating war continues to unfold in Gaza. 

And as has been the case since protests against Israel's war on Gaza began - following the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October on southern Israel - demonstrators called for an arms embargo against Israel, a ceasefire, ending the siege in Gaza, and an end to the occupation of Palestine.  

On Monday, protesters said they wanted to emphasise one more thing: they would not be distracted by election fever while Palestinians were being bombed in Gaza. 

"Both the Republicans and the Democrats are bipartisan when it comes to genocide, and we won't vote for people who have blood on their hands," Nerdeen Kiswani, chair of Within Our Lifetime (WOL), told Middle East Eye.

"We're boycotting the Democratic Party. We are calling for people to understand that Killer Kamala and Genocide Joe are just one and the same."

Kiswani said the groups oppose tax dollars going toward the killing of their family members and are united in opposition to those universities invested in facilitating the occupation of Palestinians and profiting off the war in Gaza.

"And so we are doing just the same when it comes to the Democratic Party, and really, any party, any institution that supports genocide and calls for a ceasefire, not enough. We are not stupid," Kiswani added.
 

Protesters - many of whom said they had been coming for months to express their outrage - said they wanted local and federal government officials, business leaders, and university administrators to know that they would not stop making them feel uncomfortable, no matter how long the war on Gaza continued.

During the long march on Monday, protesters young and old, teachers and doctors and students and restaurant workers chanted and held banners, placards and Palestinian flags as hundreds of others watched on from the sidewalks and restaurants.

Isabelle, a second-year medical student in NYC, told Middle East Eye that she had been coming to the protests since October because she felt a certain duty to her healthcare colleagues in Gaza working under catastrophic conditions without a fully functioning hospital in Gaza.

"I have to stand up for my colleagues and my fellow medical students in Palestine who are actively practising medicine in a war zone who are being bombed in their workplace, and who are trying to help people under occupation with no medical resources going into Gaza."

Isabelle said it was ludicrous that a humanitarian pause had been arranged to implement a vaccine rollout for polio.

"We need a complete ceasefire because why are we going to vaccinate people and then continue bombing them? That is inhumane, that's cruel, and we should not be okay with allowing that to happen," the student added.

'I was shot by the Israeli army'

Somewhere at the back end of the large protest snaking its way through Manhattan on Monday afternoon, a man in a keffiyeh and a tan NYC bucket hat hobbled as he tried to keep up with the thousands marching around him.

At times, he'd stop, take a break, and hold up a sign that appeared to catch everyone's attention, especially onlookers.

"I was shot by the Israeli army (IOF). Palestinians are murdered daily in Gaza and West Bank. End the Genocide. Arms Embargo Now!"

On 9 August, Sison was hit in the right thigh with a bullet fired by the Israeli army. At the time he was part of the Defend Palestine: Faz3a, a group that looks to harness international activists, with foreign passports, to protect Palestinians from Israeli settlers and the army which try to push them off their land.

"In the West Bank, they were asking for a protective presence, which is international volunteers, pretty much using the power of our passports and our phones to record, to create a buffer between Palestinians and the Israeli army as well as the settlers," Sison told MEE.

"We've seen an escalation where they have invaded multiple cities, villages in the West Bank, and we're there to pretty much document what happens and report it so Israel cannot just move with impunity and kill Palestinians like they do every day."

Sison said it was time for people to come together and organise groups to fight US imperialism and the apartheid state of Israel and continue showing solidarity with the Palestinians.

"This is violence that Palestinians face every day. I faced it one time at a demonstration in solidarity with them, but they face it every day."

'This is violence that Palestinians face every day. I faced it one time at a demonstration in solidarity with them, but they face it every day'

- Sison, Palestine activist

Sison said elections won't bring a change - taking practical action in solidarity with Palestinians is the way to make a difference.

Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has ratcheted up, with more than 600 Palestinians killed since October.

Over the past three months, the village of Beita is among one of the areas targeted by Israeli settlers for repopulation. 

On Monday evening, WOL, in conjunction with Doctors Against Genocide and Healthcare Workers for Palestine, held a fundraiser at the Judson Memorial Church, in Manhattan.

Several local businesses brought their wares, including food, books, Palestinian-themed T-shirts and accessories, with the proceeds going to Gaza. 

"The fact the Palestinian, Arab, Muslim community and beyond came together to support Gaza as much as possible is just a testament that our community has not forgotten Gaza, that we see our people and Gaza struggling.

"We understand that it's our responsibility to also struggle for our free Palestine," Kiswani from WOL said.

* Pseudonym used to protect the victim's identity