Gaza march from Israeli Embassy to White House shuts down Connecticut Ave

Video: Rally at embassy followed by march shutting down Conn Ave 3 min 51 sec

On the 18th of May, protesters took to the streets globally to stand in solidarity with a general strike called by Palestinians thoughout Occupied Palestine. One of these protests began at the Israeli Embassy in DC. Marchers from there took over and closed Connecticut Ave, burned an Israeli flag, stopped on the bridge over Rock Creek for Prayers, and took Lafayette Sq for the first time since Summer 2020.

There is talk now in Palestine of a 3ed Intifada(uprising). Some of those who marshalled the march showed the kind of coordination that could well have been learned by participating in DC's own intifada (over George Floyd's murder) just under a year earlier. Marchers kept a tight front line, held key chokepoints like that bridge, and took the message to outdoor diners on Connecticut Ave as the day turned to evening. Smoke rose over Connecticut Ave as an Israeli flag went up in flames at one point.

Speaking of smoke, May 18th was also the day missile teams in Lebanon joined their fire to the rockets roaring out of Gaza. Their range has greatly increased since the last war: now both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are within range and have taken hits. While Israel's bombs make these rockets look like the fireworks fired by protesters in DC last summer and fall, the rockets can inflict damage and they generate considerable political heat.

Those rockets were first fired as a reprisal for the estimated 300 people wounded in the initial attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque by Israelis. That attack occurred as far-right settlers attempted to evict 8 familes from Jerusalem, and set rockets to flight from Gaza. Israel responded with a deadly bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of Palestinians, many of them children. That has caused still more rockets to be fired from Gaza and now from Lebanon as well. The Washington Post has been talking of escalation to full-scale war, and this would be joined by a 3ed Intifada inside Israel's 1967 borders and possibly the permanent fracture of Israel's apartheid arrangement between Israelis and "Israel Arabs."