Israel halted fuel and food supplies from entering Gaza. The siege intensified soon after a $30 billion aid package was handed to Israel during President Bush’s visit to Israel earlier in the month.
Inhabitants of Gaza have endured great adversity, and a humanitarian crisis has deepened.
"Gaza is the largest open air prison on the planet," said Zahi Damuni, co-founder of Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition. "It’s been under siege since Palestinians democratically elected Hamas. Since then, Palestinians have been punished for their democratic choice," he said.
Damuni’s group co-sponsored a demonstration in San Diego to break the silence over the hardships afflicting the people of Gaza.
"We are protesting the silence of our government in the face of the collective punishment and punitive sanctions by Israel against 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza that is depriving them of basic human necessities – fuel, food supplies, medicine, sanitation," said Waleed Arikat, coordinator for the San Diego chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation.
"We want Americans of good will and conscience to join us in calling upon our government to pressure Israel to respect the basic principles of international human law and her commitments under the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to end the Gaza embargo and to commit seriously to the peace process," said Arikat, whose group co-sponsored the San Diego rally.
Numerous imams focused on the plight of the Gazans in their sermons during Friday prayer services.
The Inland Empire chapter of MAS hosted a special night of prayer in Rancho Cucamonga, inviting Muslims to supplicate to God to ease the sufferings of the people of Gaza.
In the middle of the "Little Arabia" section of Anaheim, more than 200 protestors from all walks of life marched along Brookhurst Avenue during the busiest hours of traffic, waving flags and raising posters demanding "Stop the siege on Gaza!"
The Orange County protest was organized in part by the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition, a nonprofit organization that was founded in response to the racial profiling of the "War on Terror." Spokeswoman Mona Cobtee, a 31-year-old mother from Los Angeles, addressed the protestors.
"We demand justice, because when there is no justice, there is no peace," she yelled.
Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Los Angeles-area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, referred to Gaza as "the largest ghetto in the history of mankind."
"On Jan. 22, Gazans broke out of their large prison to freedom.
"Today, we all want to be Gazans. We all want to be free; free from fear, racism and mental occupation. Free to speak against the immoral Israeli occupation," he said.
Jim Yarbrough, a 56-year-old middle school teacher from Newbury Park, stood in solidarity with Palestinians, marching and chanting with the protestors.
Yarbrough, who teaches special education, said he was there to advocate "an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza."
"This [crisis] is completely unnecessary, and Israel is creating this," he added.
Robert Luna, a member of the Native American tribe Chemehuevi, also spoke at the rally in Anaheim.
"We [Native Americans] lost the fight for our land. Today we are on reservations," said the 78 year-old retired parole officer and jeweler. "You want to be on reservations?" he asked.
Haitham Abdul-Hafeez, the head of the Orange County chapter of MAS, said there is only one way to truly understand the suffering of the Gazans.
"Tell your children, ‘Let us [go] just one day without electricity,’ " he said. "Fast for one day for the sake of the Gazans."
Tim Bleiwb, a 52 year-old giftware importer from Newport Beach, chose to stand across the street with a dozen others, waving Israeli flags and yelling responses to the Gaza supporters.
Bleiwb, who says his parents were Holocaust survivors, was wielding a poster that read, "There is no such thing as Palestine!"
He argued that the Palestinians should "resettle a new land."
"We, Jews, have been running from one place to another for centuries," Bleiwb said.
He said he "feels their pain," but the large scale demonstration "isn’t going to solve anything."
Ken Levin, a retired social worker, supports the blockade of Gaza. Levin, 63, alleged the protestors were chanting, "Throw the Jews in the sea."
The man carrying the megaphone and leading the chants, Mohammed El-Khatib, denied those allegations. El-Khatib, a retired U.S. Army veteran, replied in defense, "We were actually saying ‘Palestine must be freed, from the river to the sea.’ "
Despite the large crowd and wide array of speakers, not a single television station chose to cover the Anaheim protest.
R. Shahman, an activist with Temecula-based MuslimBridges.org, says our country is completely preoccupied with the election, the looming recession of our economy and other issues.
"Israel thinks it can get away with it because we are too busy with our problems, but this time it is different," she said. "Now people are fed up and recognize that Israel is often the aggressor behind our mess," she said.
"What really concerns us now is that other crises may surface, such as a war with Iran, or another scandal bigger than the Muhammed (PBUH) cartoon, just to shift the attention away from the Gaza Siege," Shahman also said.
Muslim leaders urged people of conscience to contact their elected representatives to advocate for an end to the siege. CAIR has already collected thousands of signatures nationwide.
Meanwhile, other leaders called on leaders of the interfaith community to publicly condemn hate against Muslims.
"We hope and expect our friends in churches and synagogues will denounce the Israeli siege, and any possible slander, just as every Islamic Center and Muslim organization in the U.S. is providing a clear position standing against terrorism, putting it in writing and signing the Fatwa against terrorism," Shahman said.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council arranged an interfaith vigil at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles.
The San Francisco-based Jewish Voice for Peace, which calls for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, also held demonstrations in Philadelphia and in other cities across the United States.
