[Peace-discuss] Peace rally

[Al Kagan]

  FYI
                                Thousands of Israelis Rally For Peace And Call
                                         For An End to the Occupation

                              February 17, 2002
                              Palestine Media Center-PMC

                              Mr. Sari Nusseibeh, the Palestine 
Liberation Organization official
                              responsible for the issue of Jerusalem, 
addressed thousands of
                              Israeli peace activists who rallied in 
Tel Aviv on the evening of
                              16 February. The crowd, rallying for an 
end to the siege
                              imposed on the Palestinian People as 
well as resuming peace
                              negotiations.

                              Speaking in Hebrew to the audience, Mr. 
Nusseibeh reiterated
                              that President Yasser Arafat is 
committed to peace and the
                              establishment of a viable independent 
Palestinian state that
                              would peacefully coexist alongside Israel.

                              "Is there anyone to talk to? There is 
someone to talk to. He is
                              the president of the Palestinian people. 
Is the question what to
                              talk about? (That) is also clear, and 
there's no other answer:
                              We talk about two states for two 
peoples", Mr. Nusseibeh told
                              the peace rally.

                              The rally, organized by the Meretz 
Party, the leader of Israeli
                              opposition, and other peace groups drew 
an estimated 20,000
                              demonstrators, making it the largest 
pro-peace rally since
                              September 2000. The organizers adopted 
the slogan "Get Out
                              of the [Occupied] Territor[y]", 
stressing the increasing
                              sentiment in the Israeli street that in 
order to achieve an end to
                              the conflict, Israel must withdraw to 
its pre-1967 borders and
                              end the occupation.

                              "We call on (Israeli Prime Minister 
Ariel) Sharon and Arafat -
                              enough blood! Enough blood!" Israeli 
opposition leader Yossi
                              Sarid told the peace rally. Yossi Sarid 
then added, "Israel is not
                              just Sharon, [Defense Minister Benjamin] 
Ben-Eliezer and
                              [Chief of Staff Shaul] Mofaz. There is 
another Israel - and it is
                              here". Meanwhile, the demonstrators were 
chanting, "Brother,
                              brother, get out of the territories".

                              In an unprecedented show of support to 
the 254 Israeli
                              reservists and military officers who 
have refused to serve in
                              the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the 
Israeli Member of
                              Knesset, Mr. Roman Bronvman told the 
rally, "Those who are
                              refusing to serve in the army bring 
warmth to all our hearts.
                              And while I can't call for rejecting 
military service, we must all
                              support them".

                              Mr. Nusseibeh's appearance in Tel Aviv 
came after a day of
                              bloodshed in which Israeli occupation 
troops killed four
                              Palestinians, including two children in 
the Gaza Strip and
                              seriously injured scores others during 
its incursion into the
                              Al-Bureij refugee camp. The day had also 
been burdened by
                              the assassination of a leading Hamas 
activist in Jenin, an attack
                              that also injured three children who 
were in the vicinity at the
                              time of the deadly attack.

                              Immediately following the assassination 
and Bureij offensive,
                              Palestinian officials held the Israeli 
government directly
                              responsible and accused it of lacking 
any political agenda.

-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu