Pro-Palestinian rally in Washington seeks end to US aid to Israel

More than 1,000 people rallied in Washington on Saturday to support Palestinians and call for an end to US aid to Israel.

The demonstration on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial came as a ceasefire that ended a deadly 11-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip has so far held.

"We are hoping to send a clear message to the United States government that the days of supporting the Israeli state without repercussions are over," one of the demonstrators, 39-year-old Washington lawyer Sharif Silmi, said as he stood in the crowd where many protesters held red, white, green and black Palestinian flags.

"We will stand against any politician that continues to fund weapons to Israel. We will oppose them, we will vote against them, we will fund their opponents, until we vote them out of office," said Silmi.

Lama Al-Ahmad, a resident of neighbouring Virginia who is of Palestinian origin, said US public opinion is turning in favour of the Palestinian cause.

"There is a huge change" going on in the US with regard to Palestinians seeking a sovereign homeland, said Al-Ahmad.

"We just want the world to recognize that we are human beings. We are not terrorists," said Al-Ahmad, a 43-year-old stay at home mother who grew up in the United Arab Emirates before moving to the US around 20 years ago.

Silmi added that there was now broad opposition in the US to how Israel treats the Palestinians, which he likened to apartheid in South Africa.

"People have now woken up, and we're resisting. Whether young Jews, young Muslims, young Blacks, young whites, there is a generational shift. And people are working across ethnic groups, racial groups, to work for change and freedom and liberation for Palestinian people," Silmi said.