Annual gathering for Palestine Day on Palestine Way is a 'day of representation'
PATERSON − A mood of protest pervaded what was otherwise a cheerful gathering representing Palestinian culture and community. Babies in strollers, plenty of food, families and music marked the annual event held in the sixth ward’s main strip, named Palestine Way by a street sign that marks the area's ethnic roots.
The mayor's office gave attendance for Palestine Day on Palestine Way at more than 5,000 people. Paterson’s sixth ward is home to a largely Arab and Arab-descended population.
Palestine Way, a hub for food and businesses catering to the community, also attracts many in the city’s Turkish, Bengali and Egyptian Muslim communities, each of whom have a mosque in Paterson. Dabka musicians played Palestinian wedding music on a stage and vendors sold everything from Palestinian coffee (sourced from Latin America) and honey to scarves, abayas and thobes.
Sunday’s event featured green, white and red Palestinian flags waved from cars and by attendees, ceasefire T-shirts, and speeches by community leaders calling on attendees to protest Israel's war in Gaza and advocating for a Palestinian state.
Paterson resident Abdel Abdallah said he has lived in the U.S. for 49 years, most of them in New Jersey. He said he lived in a village near Ramallah in the West Bank and worked in Jerusalem, but left for the U.S. after falling afoul of Israeli authorities in the early '70s. He said he mourned not returning to Ramallah, including when his parents passed away, for fear of arrest.
“I’m very active and speak my mind,” he said. He said he did not see much hope for a peaceful solution in the Middle East, especially after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7. “I used to have Jewish friends when I worked at a school in Jerusalem,” he said.
Princeton resident Yeoh-Shiuh Hsu attended the event as a member of the “uncommitted movement" which urges voters in the Democratic primary on June 4 to vote "uncommitted" in protest against U.S. support for Israeli arms and its ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
“I have no crystal ball,” he said. Our campaign is to push against Israeli policy, not the people, he said when asked about the decades long conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Sunday's Palestine Day on Palestine Way: A day of resilience and representation event was organized by the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton.
Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh was in attendance.
“Paterson is proud to possess the largest Palestinian population in the United States. Two years ago, we renamed Main Street Palestine Way to let the world know that Paterson is a better place because Palestinians call our city home,” said Sayegh, who is of Lebanese and Syrian descent.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Palestine Day on Palestine Way gathering packs South Paterson
