Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2002 16:19:05 -0500
From: bill@kelseys.net ("Bill Kelsey")
Subject: [libs4peace] Fw: [Mideastweb] PR SPIN REQUIRED ON SUPPRESSION OF NON-VIOLENT DEMONSTRATION
To: libs4peace@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: bill@kelseys.net ("Bill Kelsey")
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ami Isseroff" <ami_iss@netvision.net.il>
To: "MidEastWeb-PEACE" <mideastweb@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2002 4:38 PM
Subject: [Mideastweb] PR SPIN REQUIRED ON SUPPRESSION OF NON-VIOLENT
DEMONSTRATION
>
>
August 10, 2002
> Dear friends,
>
> Below is an account of an attempt by Palestinians and Israelis to hold a
joint demonstration
> in support of peace in Palestine. The account is from Gila Svirsky, one of
the organizers, and
> agrees basically with the account in Ha'aretz.
>
> As an Israeli, I am quite ashamed that a peaceful demonstration was
prevented by force. However,
> I have a personal problem now, because I need a way to explain what my
government did to Palestinian
> friends, and why they di it.
>
> What I need is help from all the right wing Zionists and from the Israeli
government,
> who keep repeating that there are no partners for
> peace and no Palestinians who want peace. Please explain to me, and also
to journalists and just folks
> around the world, what was the point of preventing this demonstration.
> * Did the Israeli government think that the sight of mounted men whipping
demonstrators is
> good for the image of Israel?
> * Doesn't the Israeli government want toencourage peace sentiment among
Palestinians?
> * Did the Israeli government think it was bad to show Palestinians that
there are Israelis
> who want peace?
> * Is the Israeli government afraid to show the world that there are
Palestinians for peace?
>
> An advertisement I heard on the radio boasts that there are 17000 new
settlers in the West Bank and Gaza
> Strip this year. "Yesha (West Bank and Gaza) are in a momentum of
settlement"
> Is that the "peace settlement" program of the Israeli government? Does the
Labor party support this
> "peace settlement too?"
>
> You can ask these questions of Israeli officials.
> Please write to:
>
> P.M. Ariel Sharon
> Prime Minister
> State of Israel
> Kiryat Ben Gurion
> Jerusalem
> Israel
> Fax: +972-2-566-4838
> or: +972-2-670-5415
> Tel.: +972-2-670-5555
>
> Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister
> State of Israel
> Kiryat Ben Gurion
> Jerusalem
> Fax: +972-2-6753231
> sar@mofa.gov.il
>
> Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Defense Minister
> State of Israel
> Kiryat Ben Gurion
> Jerusalem
> +972-2-6754115
> +972-2-6754116
> sar@mod.gov.il
>
>
> Please write to officials and send this letter to others!
> Thank you.
>
> Ami Isseroff
> PEACE Middle East Dialog Group
> http://www.ariga.com/Peacewatch
>
>
> *************** LETTER FROM GILA SVIRSKY *****************************
>
> 10 August 2002
>
> Friends,
>
> Most of us who marched toward Bethlehem today came back home in wet
> clothes and disappointed at not having entered this Palestinian city. And
> yet, to quote Tamar Gozansky - the only Knesset Member at the event - as
> we were starting out, "Events like this make you feel good about getting
> up in the morning."
>
> Activists came in chartered buses from all over Israel, but mostly from
> Jerusalem, as our cities are separated by only a few open fields...and a
> built-up checkpoint [=border crossing] manned by Israeli soldiers. We
> were about 700 activists from Israel, Jewish and Palestinian, and a
> handful of internationals. The organizers from Ta'ayush (Arab-Jewish
> Partnership) carefully briefed everyone about the importance of
> maintaining non-violence, even in the face of provocations. The briefing
> was necessary: At a previous checkpoint event, army resistance to our
> presence was brutal, landing over 20 activists in hospital afterwards.
>
> The army knew we were coming, and had prepared themselves in large
> numbers. A water-truck was also waiting, its turret directed right at us.
> As we approached the line of border police who were blocking our advance
> with their bodies, they began to get very rough. Several used excessive
> force, hurling activists back even though we used no force to get past
> them. Suddenly the water truck opened fire and drenched most of the
> demonstrators. I ducked behind a police car and avoided the dousing,
> though the car got well washed.
>
> When the water did not dampen our spirits or forward drive, a much more
> lethal weapon emerged. Suddenly horses with helmeted riders charged in
> from behind us and plunged directly into the crowd, the riders flailing at
> demonstrators with their whips, and driving the horses directly onto us.
> It was terrifying to be charged by horses, and this did stop our further
> progress. Several demonstrators were hurt, but none seriously, I believe.
> One woman was taken to the emergency room and others sat down to tend
> their wounds. It was infuriating to see this violent police response to
> our peaceful action (never used at right-wing demonstrations, by the way).
> Finally, when the melee died down, we all sat down on the road and blocked
> the entry of more army vehicles to the site.
>
> The next hour was one of waiting while appointed activists tried to
> negotiate our passage. Meanwhile, one local and several international TV
> stations interviewed participants. One "activist" grabbed the camera's
> attention and shouted crazily that we were the beginning of a left-ing
> underground and that our next step was to assassinate the political
> leadership of this country. The organizers quickly announced that these
> are not the views of Ta'ayush, which believes in democratic action and
> nonviolent methods. The police hauled the guy off soon after. I did a
> small investigation, and no one there knew who he was. Which strongly
> suggests that he was a provocateur, planted by someone (the right? the
> Shin Bet?) to discredit this peace group. Or simply deranged.
>
> After about an hour of sitting on the hot aspalt in the August sun, we
> regrouped and began to walk arm in arm toward the main checkpoint into
> Bethlehem, where the border patrol and soldiers now awaited us in full
> force, plus water truck, and now four horses. With the checkpoint in full
> view, we still could not get there, despite our steady chanting of "Peace
> - yes! Occupation - no!" and other slogans. We were stopped right there,
> and chanted endlessly while our negotiators talked to the army and police.
>
> One of those chants was a rhymed version (in Hebrew) of "Our partners for
> peace are on the other side of that checkpoint". Did I mention that a
> crowd of Palestinians was waiting for us for hours on the other side, in
> the plaza of the Church of the Nativity? This was meant to be a joint
> Israeli-Palestinian event, held with several Palestinian peace and
> political organizations. The intent was to meet in Bethlehem and declare
> our joint commitment to a just peace between our peoples.
>
> We could not get in and, needless to say, there had never been any hope of
> their getting to us. Too much closure. But the mobile phones did get
> through, and soon we had speeches directly into the mike by two senior
> Palestinian officials on the other side. I didn't get their names, but
> one was the governor of Bethlehem and the other, a Fatah-Tanzim official.
> What they said was pretty similar:
>
> "Waiting for you here in Bethlehem are hundreds of Palestinians, some of
> whom have had their homes destroyed and their relatives killed. And yet
> all of us have gathered to express our appreciation for your efforts to
> reach us, and our desire to end the bloodshed and reach a peaceful
> agreement between our two nations." And on their side, a speech prepared
> by the Ta'ayush group was read out loud in Arabic. Probably with similar
> sentiments.
>
> It was a very encouraging day. Yet we had to close it with a moment of
> silence for Dafna Shpruch, veteran peace activist and Jerusalem Woman in
> Black, who had been seriously injured in the Hebrew University bombing two
> weeks ago, and died as we were on the way to the action today.
>
> Said the moderator from Ta'ayush, quietly, before we dispersed, "This call
> for peace - it will not be stopped."
>
> From Jerusalem,
> Gila Svirsky
> Coalition of Women for a Just Peace
>
>
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