Hundreds of Palestinian Americans gathered Monday in Bridgeview to call for a cease-fire and condemn U.S. military aid to Israel as fighting between Israel and Hamas wears on in Gaza.
They had taken the day off work and school and closed their businesses to heed a call for a worldwide strike meant to boost pressure for a cease-fire and bring attention to the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Protesters shut down the intersection of 95th Street and Harlem Avenue for about 20 minutes though parts of Harlem were closed for much longer.
The war, now in its third month, has claimed the lives of about 17,500 Palestinians and driven nearly 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes. About 1,300 Israelis have died in the fighting, most in the initial Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in which the group also took more than 200 people hostage. More than 100 captives were released during a weeklong cease-fire late last month in exchanges for women and minors held in Israeli prisons.
In Bridgeview, often known as “Little Palestine,” hundreds gathered with Palestinian flags and scarves known as kaffiyehs in a strip mall that was almost entirely closed. Printed and handwritten signs declared that the businesses — ranging from The Nut House USA to Nile Restaurant to Holy Buckets Halal Chicken — were closed for the strike.
Across 87th Street, Al Bawadi Mediterranean Grill’s digital sign read “Closed in Solidarity with Gaza. We are joining the global strike.”
Strike organizers said more than 200 businesses around the Chicago area were closed to show their support for a cease-fire.
At Arab American Family Services in Worth, a recorded message said “the office is closed according to the request for a global strike to request a cease-fire in Palestine” and directed callers to contact their legislators.
Bridgeview trustee and local business owner Kalid Baste said he closed his accounting firm and car wash for the day. His motel was still housing guests but not accepting new check-ins for the day, he said.
He said the action would be “a wake-up call for even our own people that If you weren’t doing anything, this is the time to do something.”
“Even the press is just in survival mode,” Baste said of journalists on the ground in Gaza.
Nadia Ismail, a teacher at Bridgeview’s Aqsa School, told protesters it was difficult for her students to continue with their learning “when they are faced with everything that is going on in Gaza.”
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Aqsa was one of seven schools to close its doors for the day, according to a list from strike organizers.
[ For Chicago’s Palestinian and Jewish students, Israel-Hamas war is constant and personal ]
Ismail said her hope was that Asqa students and others who were out of school for the day would learn firsthand about civic participation.
“We are hoping to empower them not to be helpless in the face of everything that they’re witnessing at this time,” she said. “And the best way to learn against this helplessness is to empower them with tools on how to be engaged citizens.”
Murad Ayyash, of Homer Glen, took the day off from work as the director of operations for a logistics firm to participate in the strike.
“Shutting it down is the least we can do when our politicians do not answer,” he said.
Ayyash said he’s attended protests from Washington to Chicago to show support for Palestinian civilians and journalists in the thick of the fighting. But he still feels like he’s not doing enough, he said.