Hundreds gather in solidarity with Palestinian resistance to Trump's ‘peace plan’
Pro-Palestine protesters with flags and banners on University Avenue, Toronto. (The Canada Files/Jennifer Nguyen)
Written by: Jennifer Nguyen
Hundreds of GTA residents protested in downtown Toronto at an emergency rally on Saturday, opposing the Trump administration’s recently unveiled proposal of resolution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“It's an answer to the deal of the century that Mr. Trump just announced a couple of days ago. We want to let the world know that we are rejecting that proposal,” said Nabil Nassar, one of the organizers and vice-president of the Arab Palestine Association of Ontario.
The Palestinian Canadian Community Centre, also known as Palestine House, co-hosted the event with Courage Toronto. They called on Canadian and world leaders to “reject Trump’s plan and pressure the Israeli government to abide by its obligations under international law” in a media release on Jan. 30.
The protest begins
Protestors were chanting “viva viva Palestine,” “occupation is a crime” and “from the river to the sea – Palestine we’ll be free.”
“I'm from Lebanon, so I'm from the region. But I think even if you're not, it's a situation where there's working class people that are dying. So we have to try to support them as much as possible,” said Adam Zeineddine, protestor and Fightback Toronto activist.
The rally was held outside of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, just opposite from the U.S. Consulate General Toronto.
The consulate did not get back with a comment on the protest in time for publication.
Protestors began gathering at the venue around 12:30 p.m. A bus that departed from Palestine House in Mississauga took people who needed transportation to Toronto.
By 2 p.m. the crowd consisted of over three hundred people in solidarity with Palestine. It was also around this time that a group of nearly ten individuals made an appearance across the road on Armoury Street to show their support for the Israeli and U.S. government. There were no direct clashes between the two sides.
Counter pro-Israel and pro-U.S. protesters with flags and banners on Armoury Street, Toronto. (The Canada Files/Jennifer Nguyen)
Palestine left out of the “peace plan”
On Jan. 28, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the details of his Middle East peace plan in a White House press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Palestinian government officials were not invited and have since rejected the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“You can't just try and solve other people's countries’ problems without them being there” Nassar said.
“If you have a deal of the century, Palestinians have to be sitting on the table to make that deal,” said Nassar. “You cannot just come and dictate that this is what's going to happen, this is yours, this is theirs, you know?”
Development of Trump’s plan began back in November 2017, shortly before he recognized the holy city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Among a long list of economic and political proposals, the plan does not immediately recognize a Palestinian state.
Organizers and protesters alike voiced their concern that Trump did not consider the two parties’ benefits equally in the making of his deal.
“Every offer made by American and Israeli leaders before attempted to do the same thing: give large portions of the West Bank to Israel, maintain illegal Israeli settlements, give all of Jerusalem to Israel, do away with the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and keep Palestinians confined to open air prisons and enclaves surrounded by the Israeli security apparatus,” said Palestine House board member Hammam Farah.
“The main difference in Trump's plan is that this is no longer an offer made to Palestinians. It's an order. It's a declaration of apartheid. It gives approval for Israel to move ahead and implement the plan without the Palestinians,” Farah continued.
Sid Lacombe, an anti-war activist in his 40s, also said the deal is “absolutely absurd.”
“You have a president who's going to be impeached and a prime minister who's under indictment for fraud and corruption. And they're the ones getting together and trying to come up with this plan, and the rest of the world is supposed to accept it.”
When asked what he would like to see Canada do in this situation, Nassar said he would like “them to take a step further, and reject Trump’s deal of the century.”