On Sunday, hundreds gathered for a 25-mile march from Northampton to the Springfield offices of U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to military aid to Israel.
The march was made up of members of Jewish Voice for Peace, the Palestinian-led organization Within our Lifetime, the local Islamic community, and others across Massachusetts. The marchers expressed concern over the civilian death toll of Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, now estimated to be proportionately higher than any conflict of the 20th century.
The route was chosen to represent the forced migration of Palestinians in northern Gaza to the south, a journey of about the same distance. Along the way were numerous stops where marchers could peel off, join in, learn songs and chants, and get food and medical care. The leaders estimate 500 marchers participated throughout the day.
The Shoestring followed the march from end to end and spoke to participants about what brought them out that day.
Deb Habib and Rick Baruch, Jewish marchers who traveled from Orange, stepped off with the group leaving from Rep. Jim McGovern’s Northampton office at 6 a.m. Holding each end of a banner that read “25 Miles for Palestine,” they said they intended to walk 10 miles. Habib said they were there with the march as a “collective way to participate in non-violence.” She added that she was “strongly opposed to militarism and violence.”
The march stayed at least 100 strong throughout the morning, stretching along roadsides in Northampton and Easthampton, seen above.
Some marchers carried white kites in remembrance of the poet Refaat Alareer, who an Israeli airstrike killed in Gaza on Dec. 7. Easthampton Poet Laureate Carolyn Cushing was in attendance.
“I have been concerned watching the violence in the Middle East,” she said. “Very disturbed about what happened on Oct. 7, of course, in Israel, but then the ongoing constant barrage, the death toll of civilians caused by U.S. bombs paid for with my tax dollars, benefiting only defense contractors.”
Cushing said that because she is a poet, she is participating in a “poet-solidarity action” in reaction to the death of at least three poets in the conflict.
“If you have a poet identity or an artist identity you can talk to your arts liaison person of your congressperson,” Cushing said. “And I’ve been in touch with [U.S. Rep.] Richard Neal’s person, because he is my congressperson and he has not signed on for a ceasefire and takes a lot of money from defense contractors. Poets have no lobby so maybe as poets we can be in solidarity.”
In Holyoke, Juman Tuffaha, a 12-year-old Palestinian-American, handed out cookies to those in the crowd. She had been with the march for the last 5 miles.
“I originate from Palestine, and I also have relatives there, so I felt compelled to come help,” she said. “I keep seeing all these videos, and they’re really unfortunate, of things that are happening over there, so I just felt compelled to come help.”
Ismail Asaad, who joined the march in Northampton and was walking to the end, said he hoped this demonstration would sway his elected officials to act.
“This action I think is going to be everywhere in the world happening now and make more pressure for politicians to ask for a ceasefire. I’m here today as a Palestinian to support my people, and Gaza, and Palestine. And to tell the world what happened in Palestine is a genocide.”
Speaking to the crowd, Asaad said that what happened in Palestine “is not a conflict, it is an occupation.”
“It is not between religious, Muslim and Jews, it is a colonialism system,” he said. “When we fight we fight a system. It is everywhere now. We need more love, more cooperation, and communication.”
“We are strong enough to fight this system,” he went on. “Me, as a Palestinian, I live what you see in the media now, I live the same thing, same situation. I have been shot by the Israeli army three times. I’m lucky I am still alive. I have been in the Israeli jail for seven years for nothing.”
In Springfield, the action concluded at 9:30 p.m., 16 hours after the first marchers gathered in Northampton, on a note of community and hope. Songleaders accompanied by drummers used megaphones to sing “We rise, fighting for life. We rise, in hope, in prayer, we find ourselves here. In hope, in prayer, we’re right here.”
Ilein Imaan, a resident of the Springfield area, told The Shoestring she joined the action after seeing a flier at her local mosque about the protest.
“It’s been so long, I’ve been waiting for the Palestinians to be recognized for what is going on over there,” she said. “It moves me to tears that all these people that I would’ve never guessed if I saw them walking down the street would stand behind this. It really moves me that we’re coming together and opening our eyes to see what’s going on in the world.”
“These walks, I believe, will make a change for the better, the future,” she concluded. “Hopefully we ceasefire and hopefully we stop the occupation.”
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Tommy Lee is a writer, investigative journalist, and audio video producer for community television based in Western Massachusetts.
