w w w . g u s h - s h a l o
m
May 5, 2005
International release
1) Report of a spontaneous protest in Tel-Aviv, Adam Keller
links to Ha'aretz and Ynet reports
2) "Killing of children, moral bankruptcy". Arrests during Tel Aviv rally
Holocaust Day is not normally chosen as a day for protest demonstrations
by the
Israeli peace movement, though sensivity is eroding by the crude
instrumentalization of the memorial events. But the timing of today's
protest
was none of our choosing.
In the bus on the way to the Defence Ministry, the voice of Prime Minister
Sharon, radio broadcast from Poland: "From the Auschwitz Extermination
Camp, I
tell you: now we Jews can defend ourselves!". Maybe, the shooting down of
two
unarmed Palestinian boys at the village of Beit Likia last night was also
part
of "Jews defending themselves"?
As it gradually came out, in the late afternoon yesterday Beit Likia boys
had
been playing soccer at an empty field a bit outside their village. They
suddenly got the urge to stage a protest at another field nearby, where
the
army habitually parks the bulldozers for the night - the fearsome machines
which daily tear up the village fields, much of which stand to be forever
alienated once the fence is set tup. The boys went to the bulldozer park,
with
no Israelis or internationals or even adult Palestinians present. Two of
them,
aged 14 and 15, did not survive the encounter with the bulldozers'
guardian
soldiers. (To those not familiar with the geography: Beit Likia is a few
kilometres south of Bil'in, where last week's clash with the army took
place).
Shortly before midnight last night the news spread fast by phone, even
before
the media published it. The Anarchists Against Fences who are in close
daily
contact with the villagers of this region got the news and immediately
spread
it to the other groups and suggested an emergency joint protest at the
Ministry
of Defence. The others - ourselves of Gush Shalom, Courage to Refuse, Yesh
Gvul, Ta'ayush, Women for Peace - immediately accepted and hardly drawing
breath started to spread the alarm by phone and email.
And so, there were between three and four hundred streaming to the Defence
Ministry gates. The small parking lot where we often used to rally on this
location has now been obliterated by urban renovators and building
contractors,
leaving only a very narrow strip of pavement in along which a long long
picket
line could spread and face the traffic with their upraised placards and
banners:"Who is breaking the cease-fire?" "Who has blood on his hands?"
"Sharon
is no partner!" "The Occupation is killing us all". Some exchanges with
passing
motorists: "But they were throwing stones!" "Does that carry a capital
punishment?" "Yes, if they are not settlers"...
After an hour, a shift. A large part of the crowd takes to the street,
banners
waving, with the repeated chant: "Mofaz, hey hey, how many kids did you
kill
today?" They walk over street after street, across the town, encountering
not
unfriendly crowds on the bustling Ibn Gvirol Street and on until the Likud
Party Headquarters on King George Street. There, the seemingly inevitable
conclusion: riot police charging, breaking up the lines, dragging six
protesters into the waiting patrol cars to the din of "Police State!" and
"Down
with the occupation!" from dozens of young throats.
On TV, minor politicians still mouth clinches about the Holocaust. The
dozens of
protesters who intend to spend this night in solidarity outside the
Harakevet
Street Police Station might have learned some more essential lessons.
See also:
Haaretz:
Hundreds rally in TA against IDF killing of 2 Palestinian teens
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/572451.html
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=573219&contrassID=2&subContrassID=21&sbSubContrassID=0
Hebrew
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=578509
English
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/578281.html
Ynet:
Police dispersing left-wing rally
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/CdaNewsFlash/0,2297,L-3081878_3089,00.html
Maariv:
http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART/930/701.html
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