Mohammed al-Amleh, a 46-year-old lawyer, also approved of the action, saying that “it would be shameful to have the flag of gays in our refugee camp.” Mohammed, who only gave his first name for fear of repercussions, said he helped whitewash the flag because “we cannot promote gay rights.” “People don’t accept different thinking in our society,” he said, adding he drew the rainbow flag on the barrier to put a spotlight on Palestinian issues. Jarrar, 39, who has exhibited in Europe and the United States, told The Associated Press that the destruction “reflects the absence of tolerance, and freedoms in the Palestinian society.” The artwork ignited angry responses among Palestinians, and activists whitewashed the flag on Monday night, just a few hours after it was painted on the best known section of Israel’s graffiti-covered barrier, next to a portrait of Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders. allowed same-sex weddings.īut protesters perceived the painting as support for homosexuality, a taboo subject in Palestinian society, where gays are not tolerated. The artist, Khaled Jarrar, said Tuesday his art was meant as a reminder that Palestinians live under Israeli occupation, at a time when gay rights are in the news after the U.S. "We are disappointed that this action distracts from the appropriate and needed focus on (Washington) residents and housing policies that favor gentrification," she said.RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Palestinian protesters whitewashed a rainbow flag of gay rights that was painted by a Palestinian artist on six slabs of the West Bank separation barrier. "The Jewish Pride Flag is a symbol that represents the greater LGBTQ Jewish community," Carey wrote. The Washington march's decision didn't sit well with the National LGBTQ Task Force.Įxecutive director Rea Carey said in a statement the advocacy group had withdrawn its partnership with the march after the flag was banned. The controversy in Washington came two years after Jewish activists were expelled from a lesbian protest in Chicago for sporting the Jewish pride flag, which event organizers had banned in solidarity with Palestinians. Meanwhile the American Jewish Committee asked on Twitter, "How is the (DC Dyke March) inclusive when it excludes Israeli or Jewish Pride flags?"įriday's Dyke March in Washington was picketed by a handful of protesters but was otherwise calm. "Banning the Star of David in their parade is anti-Semitic, plain and simple," said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
Jewish groups condemned the ban, saying it smacked of anti-Semitism and sowed division within the gay community. "There are so many other ways that we can represent our Jewishness, we just have to make that choice to be in solidarity with Palestine," said the 24-year-old who "proudly" wears a Star of David around her neck. The Israeli flag represents "settler colonial government, a lot of violence against Palestinians, a lot of things that I don't want at this march," organizer Yael Horowitz told AFP.
Taking place a day before the city's annual Gay Pride parade and attended by hundreds of people in downtown Washington, the "DC Dyke March" was held from 1993 until 2007, returning this year to protest the rising cost of housing in the city.īut controversy emerged when the organizers of the event banned the Jewish pride flag, a rainbow banner bearing the Star of David that they said too closely resembles the Israeli flag and violated the march's ban on "nationalist symbols." Washington: Lesbians marched in Washington on Friday to protest gentrification even as controversy over a ban on a Jewish symbol threatened to overshadow the march, which was returning to the streets after a 12-year break.