wfn.org | Jewish Group Appeals "Stop this Madness"

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For information, contact:
GUSH SHALOM
POB  3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - 
http://www.gush-shalom.org/

JERUSALEM, April 2, 2002--The parking lot in front of the Defence Ministry 
has been the Tel-Aviv location for spontaneous protests for a long time and 
for a variety of peace groups. 

But the evening of April 1 was different. The 500 people who turned up came 
out of desperation, feeling sick with anger at the cynicism of those in power 
doing everything to escalate and further escalate the situation. 

The news which could be  heard on the transistor radios which some had 
brought  was increasing the tension: in Ramallah - the most worldly of 
Palestinian cities - all men between 15 and 45 being ordered to turn 
themselves in; the room in which Arafat was held already for days without 
food and electricity soon - to that effect army officers were quoted - to be 
stormed.  

'The occupation is killing us all' placards, originally printed for the 
February 9 rally,  had only become more true. 

There were also huge newly-made ones "Withdraw the tanks", "International 
Intervention Now!" and a lot of hand-written signs produced at the spot: "Get 
out of Ramallah now," "Stop the madness," "Tanks against civilians breed 
suicide bombers." 

The people had been mobilized in less than twenty-four hours, through phoning 
and 
emailing only. The initiators, veteran activists Yehudith Har'el and Lev 
Grinberg were the same who two weeks ago organized the petition calling for 
UN forces to be stationed in the Occupied Territories. 

It was joined by Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, the Women's Coalition and Hadash, 
whose group was led by Knesset Members Muhammad Barake and Issam Makhoul. 

Some of the internationals from France and Italy, who just arrived in the 
country 
in order to act as human shields in the the Territories, also joined in.  

For part of the participants, it was the second or even third demo they 
attended 
today; a whole busload had arrived directly from the Land Day rally in the 
Negev. If they were tired it did not show in the strength and militancy of 
the slogans chanted. 

Halfway through the hours-long demonstration, hundreds of activists suddenly 
poured 
from the sidewalk into the street, blocking the traffic and chanting angrily: 
'Fascism is in Power', 'A Government of War Criminals,'  'Occupation is 
Terror, the Refuser is a Hero.' 

"We will neither kill, nor die in the war of the settlements.  At such a 
time, we can't just behave nicely and correctly" said a young activist. Near 
him, the white hair and beard of Uri Avnery were conspicuous among the crowd 
advancing towards the defence ministry gate, on the other side of the street. 

"This is an illegal demonstration. You are ordered to disperse immediately," 
announced an authoritative voice over the police car's loudspeaker. It was 
answered with jeers. "Are you going to bring some tanks from Ramallah, to 
crush us?" shouted one.

A few minutes later, police started trying to drag demonstrators off the 
street. There were only a few of them, and they were not making much of a 
headway - but the demonstrators on the edge were receiving heavy blows from 
police sticks and from mobile radios made of tough metal wielded as weapons 
in the police's hands.  

Some were resisting, and suddenly there was visible a policeman bleeding from 
a gash in his head. 

"This is enough! We made our point, don't escalate the situation here any 
further" called  \organizers on the loudspeaker. The crowd, surprisingly 
disciplined, turned back to the sidewalk. 

There was a further hour of chanting.  The police who were involved in the 
scuffle were 
standing just in front, some of them actually chatting with demonstrators and 
seeming quite friendly. Suddenly, however, a new police car pulled up, a 
bigger one with a lot of room for prisoners at the back. 

The reinforcements seemed bellicose and looking for a fight. Suddenly they 
picked on one demonstrator, quite randomly, it seemed - except for the fact 
that he was obviously an Arab. His identity card was taken away, and he was 
told to show up at the police station and undergo interrogation before it 
could be recovered. 

At about 9.00, a large group of activists were preparing to go to the police 
station and hold a solidarity vigil outside, and on the mobile phone came the 
message that the parallel Peace Now/Peace Coalition outside the -rime 
Minster's residence in Jerusalem had gone well, also attended  by about five 
hundred and proceeding more  quietly. 

-end-