Faith Leaders Walk from Independence Hall to the White House, Demanding Gaza Ceasefire
Jennifer Hernandez
One month after independent U.S. presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West joined a multi-faith coalition of more than 350 faith leaders, activists, and artists walking from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall to the White House in order to call for a Ceasefire in Gaza, the Pilgrimage for Peace is at it again.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West joined with clergy in the Pilgrimage for Peace as they arrived in Washington DC on February 21. Photo: Sue Dorfman/Zuma Press
From March 24th to 29th, the week Christians celebrate Lent, activists will make another pilgrimage, this time from the Liberty Bell to Lockheed Martin headquarters in King of Prussia.
“We have to keep coming out into the streets and sending our message in whatever ways we can, setting up meetings with our congressional representatives, and asking them to support our position,” Rabbi Meryl Crane of Jewish Voice of Peace (Philadelphia Chapter) told Al-Bustan. Crane was one of 350+ people who participated in the 150-mile February pilgrimage.
Participants of the multigenerational, and multiracial march arrived in Washington DC on February 21, after an eight-day journey—with a message for U.S. President Joe Biden: Call for a ceasefire. Support the release of all Palestinian and Israeli hostages and prisoners. And increase humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
“I find myself horrified that I live in a country that is aiding and abetting the genocide of my people.”
Palestinian American Muslim activist Linda Sarsour made an emotional appeal for peace before the march began. Photo: Sue Dorfman/ ZUMA Press
“I find myself horrified that I live in a country that is aiding and abetting the genocide of my people,” said renowned Palestinian American Muslim activist Linda Sarsour (author, We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance) during the Pilgrimage for Peace kickoff rally at Mother Bethel AME Church in Center City. “We live in a country where, during a genocide, our President bypassed Congress twice to sell weapons to the state of Israel,” said Sarsour, who was joined by several other speakers, including Reverend Stephen A. Green from Faith for Black Lives, Rabbi Alissa Wise from Rabbis for Ceasefire, and Dr. Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Philadelphia, among others.
“The pilgrimage was a meaningful pathway for bringing together like-minded individuals who cared about what’s going on in Palestine, in Gaza, and all shared the view that as Americans, we should not be complicit in the genocide that’s taking place,” Tekelioglu told Al-Bustan in an interview.
En route to the nation’s capital, participants stayed at local mosques and met with communities, spreading awareness about the genocide in Gaza.
Faith leaders, activists, and artists participating in the Pilgrimage for Peace march past Philadelphia’s St. Thomas African Episcopal Church on February 14. Photo: Joe Piette.
“In every community where we stopped, there was a lot of grace and welcoming,” Tekelioglu said.
For the past 5 months, since October 7, Israel has been incessantly bombing Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians, resulting in 30,000 deaths and an additional 70,000 wounded, according to the Associated Press. Israel has been preventing most humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, including food, water, fuel, and medicine. The United Nations has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza are facing famine-like conditions. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the conditions on the ground in Gaza a “humanitarian catastrophe.” Seventeen Palestinian children have already starved to death in Gaza, according to Defense for Children International, with that number growing daily.
“This pilgrimage emerges from a rich tradition of nonviolent moral action and is committed to sharing the principles of peace, love, and justice as we seek to awaken the conscience of the nation.”
Israel has also decimated Gaza’s infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, schools, markets, and places of worship, according to Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.
“We were all horrified at what happened on October 7 and appalled by the taking of hostages by Hamas. We also are alarmed and distressed by the suffering we’ve witnessed in Gaza,” wrote Leslie Copeland-Tune, COO of the National Council of Churches, a partner in the Pilgrimage for Peace, in a statement to Al-Bustan. “Compelled by our conscience, we stand united to address the ongoing tragedy in Gaza and pray with our feet across 150 miles in solidarity with the suffering.”
“This pilgrimage emerges from a rich tradition of nonviolent moral action and is committed to sharing the principles of peace, love, and justice as we seek to awaken the conscience of the nation,” said Reverend Green, in a statement.
At left, Rev. Stephen A. Green, Chair of Faith for Black Lives, leads the Pilgrimage for Peace on its final journey to the White House. Photo: Sue Dorfman/Zuma Press
During the first couple of days of the pilgrimage Rabbi Wise, lead organizer of Rabbis for Ceasefire walked from Philadelphia to Wilmington, Delaware and then rejoined during the final two days.
“When you’re walking for so many hours, you have time to have more sprawling conversations,” Wise told Al-Bustan. “So, there were a bunch of other clergy and ministers with whom we were able to swap life stories and talk about what brought us to our analysis about what’s happening in Palestine.”
Rabbi Alissa Wise, lead organizer of Rabbis for Ceasefire, addressed Pilgrimage for Peace participants at Mother Bethel AME Church in Center City before they departed on their long journey to Washington DC. Photo: Sue Dorfman/ ZUMA Press
Rabbis for Ceasefire have been “lobbying directly with members of Congress and met with the UN Secretary-General,” Wise said.
As for Crane, she recently joined a contingent of Philadelphia activists who met with Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA 4th District), to urge her to support a ceasefire. And the next day, she did, Crane says.
“If only we could bottle up the camaraderie and solidarity that we experienced as we walked together from Philadelphia to the nation’s capital! It showed that peace is possible and worth it,” Copeland-Tune noted.
***
Jennifer Hernandez is a bilingual Dominican journalist. A Media Fellow at Al-Bustan, she holds a MA in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University and a Modern Journalism Certificate from NYU. She has reported for AL DÍA, where she covered higher education and culture. A passionate bibliophile, she lives in Philadelphia.