WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Hundreds of protesters rallied within sight of the U.S. Capitol, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and voicing criticism of the Israeli and American governments as they marked a painful present \u2014 the war in Gaza \u2014 and past \u2014 the exodus of some 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from what is now Israel when the state was created in 1948.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 400 demonstrators braved steady rains to rally on the National Mall on the 76th anniversary of what is called the Nakba<\/u><\/a>, the Arabic word for catastrophe. In January, thousands of pro-Palestinian activists had gathered in the nation\u2019s capital<\/u><\/a> in one of the larger protests in recent memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were calls in support of Palestinian rights and an immediate end to Israeli military operations in Gaza<\/u><\/a>. \u201cNo peace on stolen land\u201d and \u201cEnd the killings, stop the crime\/Israel out of Palestine,\u201d echoed through the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protesters also focused their anger on President Joe Biden, whom they accuse of feigning concern over the death toll in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBiden Biden, you will see\/genocide\u2019s your legacy,\u201d they said. The Democratic president was in Atlanta on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Reem Lababdi, a George Washington University sophomore who said she was pepper-sprayed by police last week when they broke up an on-campus protest encampment<\/u><\/a>, acknowledged that the rain seemed to hold down the numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m proud of every single person who turned out in this weather to speak their minds and send their message,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>This year\u2019s commemoration was fueled by anger over the ongoing siege of Gaza. The latest Israel-Hamas war<\/u><\/a> began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing<\/u><\/a> about 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostage. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, and Israel\u2019s military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza<\/u><\/a>, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaker Osama Abuirshad, executive director of American Muslims for Palestine, gestured at the Capitol building dome behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis Congress does not speak for us. This Congress does not represent the will of the people,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re paying for the bombs. We\u2019re paying for the F-16s and F-35s. And then we do the poor Palestinians a favor and send some food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speakers also expressed anger over the violent crackdown on multiple pro-Palestinian protest camps at universities across the country. In recent weeks, long-term encampments have been broken up by police at more than 60 schools; just under 3,000 protesters have been arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe students are the conscience of America,\u201d said Abuirshad, who compared the university demonstrations to earlier protest movements against the Vietnam War and apartheid-era South Africa. \u201cThat\u2019s why the authorities are working so hard to silence them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to pressing Israel and the Biden administration for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza, activists have long pushed for the right of return for Palestinian refugees \u2014 an Israeli red line in decades of start-and-stop negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel\u2019s establishment, Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within Israel\u2019s borders. Instead, they became a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers some 6 million, with most living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants make up around three-quarters of the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At several points during the rally and subsequent march, protesters performed a call-and-response, with the speaker naming different cities in Israel and the occupied territories. The response: \u201craageh!\u201d \u2014 Arabic for \u201cI\u2019m returning!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The demonstrators marched for several blocks on Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues, with police cars closing the streets ahead of them. One lone counter-protester, waving an Israeli flag, attempted to march near the front of the procession. At one point, one of the demonstrators snatched his flag and ran away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With tensions rising, members of the protesters\u2019 \u201csafety team\u201d formed a tight phalanx around the man, both to impede his progress and protect him from hot-heads in the crowd. The standoff was broken when a police officer intervened, led the man away and told him to go home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n