Pro-Palestine group calls for ceasefire

A group of activists in solidarity with Palestine held a peaceful rally in front of the Legislature building on Capital Hill yesterday and called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

In a demonstration that occurred just as the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation was holding a regular session yesterday morning, members and supporters of Marianas for Palestine chanted, “Free, free Palestine! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Some SNILD members also expressed support for the group’s call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Businessman Salam Younis, who is one of the organizers of Marianas for Palestine, said in an interview that they’re calling for a ceasefire to stop what he calls the genocide going on in Palestine, especially the killing of children.

Salam Younis’ late father, Abed E. Younis, who was a Palestinian, was the founding publisher of the Marianas Variety.

Salam Younis said more than 8,000 children have been killed in the war and that they were at the Legislature yesterday to ask the CNMI’s elected leaders to call for a ceasefire.

“We have good show [of] support. A lot of [representatives] are with us and on the side of humanity,” he said.

The group, composed of less than 20 people, including a few children, held the rally in front of the Legislature building to coincide with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which is usually celebrated on Nov. 29.

Salam Younis said they were aware that there was going to be a SNILD session so they decided to have the rally during that time.

“It was good decision because they allowed us to make our statement in their session,” he said.

Salam Younis said they plan on doing more rallies and will have one after they deliver their collective statement to Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP).

Many organizations in the CNMI signed the statement.

Salam Younis, his sister Suaad Castro Younis, Grace Choi, and Roberto Santos read the group’s statement during the session’s public comments portion.

Salam Younis said the Marianas for Palestine’s collective demands are an immediate ceasefire in occupied Palestine; the immediate restoration of water, fuel, food, electricity and internet connectivity; and the end of military violence and oppression in the West Bank, among others.

Suaad Younis, a teacher, said the colonized people of the Marianas recognize that the root cause of the war in Palestine is one of colonization, racism and Zionist imperialism that demands power and control over vital natural resources and vulnerable human lives.

Furthermore, Suaad Younis said, they recognize that the extractive and violent war industry also profits from occupying lands and oppressing native peoples in the Pacific.

“We know that the ongoing hyper militarization of the Mariana Islands has grown out of a similar history of land dispossession, power grabs and denial of our sovereign indigenous rights,” she said.

Choi Santos said the community groups and organizations of Collective Marianas for Palestine stand vehemently opposed to the ongoing genocide and forced displacement of Palestinian people, an enduring apartheid and siege in occupied Palestine.

Speaking as an indigenous person in the Marianas and as a member of the LGBTQ community, Roberto Santos said he is using his time to expressing solidarity with Palestine.

Santos called on military members and veterans in the communities to stand with them and demand an end to genocide and apartheid.

For decades, he said, Israel has consistently violated international laws and committed war crimes with total impunity.

Rep. Thomas John Manglona (R-Saipan) said he is not an expert on this issue so he tries his best to stay neutral on most issues to see both sides. However, if there’s one thing that he can see, Manglona said, is that they cannot ignore the fact that this is not affecting people here.

“We do have a crowd that came up here to voice their concern and to show their passion for what they believe in and I truly respect that. I admire that,” he said.

As he is not an expert on the subject, Manglona said he does not know who is right or wrong, but he can sympathize with the loss of children which he said is never right under any circumstance.

Manglona said he is not too sure where the rest of his colleagues stand or anyone else’s stance but he personally supports the ceasefire.

Rep. Marissa Renee Flores (Ind-Saipan) said she would like to ask Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) and Senate President Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero (D-Saipan) to join the rest in the community to draft a letter to convey the message to the world from the Marianas that they support a ceasefire, support children, support life, support love, and support peace.

As Chamorro people and Refaluwasch, Flores said the biggest message they can send is to support peace. “That’s how we raise our kids,” she said.

Rep. Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan) said this is a brutal war and there are atrocities on both sides.

“When you think of 12,000 people being killed, and two thirds of them are women and children, is that collateral damage? No, it’s killing. It’s murder. It’s mayhem,” Propst said.

He said he just wants to say that, as a people they should be able to speak out on things like this without having to worry about repercussions from anything.

“It doesn’t mean that you’re anti-Israel or anti-Palestine. You call for peace and call for a ceasefire and call for a better way to come together,” Propst said.

DeLeon Guerrero said she has absolute respect for the group coming up to express their sentiment with what’s happening in the world.

DeLeon Guerrero said the CNMI recently unveiled the monument at the American Memorial Park for the loss of family members during World War II, but she herself never realized and knew until she read the program that her grandmother’s brother was also innocently killed during the war and his name was listed.