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Posted April 4, 2002
To the following vivid description by Gush Shalom member
Yehudith Harel of today's joint action of the peace groups
we want to add what nobody realized during the action, but
what we afterwards saw on the TV news. Following the harsh
treatment by the police, KM Dr Ahmed Tibi was hospitalized
with a concussion, appearing on television with his neck sustained.
On the Israeli television, the action in which also a
contingent of internationals participated was presented as
a violent one, with the main focus on the Arab activists.
But we saw that international networks have presented it as
what it was: a peaceful Jewish- Arab demonstration & humanitarian
action which was treated violently by the police.
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From : Yehudith Harel
Date : Wed, 03 Apr 2002 18:14:37 -0800
Dear all.
I just got back home from the checkpoint march. There was
a big crowd of determined peace activists - more than 50 busses
+ private cars -circa 3000 people - Jews and Arabs, men and
women from all over the country, representing the Anti War
Coalition of all the Peace Movements and Organizations. We
were determined to come there despite the heavy rain, to express
our solidarity with [the Palestinian] plight and protest against
the crimes of the Israeli occupation. The women who initiated
this protest march were leading it - shouting slogans against
the occupation, to End the war, to End the onslaught against
the Palestinian people. We were calling for Two Sates,
for a peaceful solution and Coexistence between the two peoples
based on Equality for all. While waiting for the trucks
to arrive - all of sudden the border police - or whoever those
Uniform wearing hooligans were - they started to shoot tear
gas right into the middle of the crowd. The gas was very strong
and they shot many many times. The smoke spread quickly in
a heavy and concentrated form and people were choking. Me
too. I couldn't breath at all. People started to run - some
fell into the mud. I found refuge in one of the neighboring
Palestinian homes. The people there took care of me, soothed
me and provided me with onion for later. After a while we
gathered again and kept on standing and waiting and shouting
slogans. About the time the trucks arrived - once again without
any provocation that I could have witnessed - and I was standing
close to the checkpoint in the first row - they started shooting
again. This time the police came out and started chasing the
fleeing crowd - pushing people brutally -making some of them
stumble an fall into the mud and hitting them with their sticks.
The crowd started to distance itself from the checkpoint but
they came after us, shooting new waves of tear gas being shot
at us. I saw a woman faint and others were slightly injured.
MK Mohammad Barake's head was badly injured and Noa's hand
was broken. They were taken to the hospital. A few activists
were arrested but they were released after a short interrogation.
The authorities claim that this was a violent and provocative
action is an absolute lie. There was no violence whatsoever
and no stones were thrown at the police. Obviously, after
being attacked we defied our attackers by shouting at them
slogans like: "Police State" , "The Fascism
will not win" "Shame on you" - "You are
a shame to Jewish people" etc. - Some activists shouted
to them: "You behave like Nazis", which made them
ever more angry and vicious. We do not know for sure what
happened to the trucks of food and medication. We heard that
the convoy got through but we need confirmation.* We hope
that our protest will strengthen your morale and that it will
reach many closed ears and indifferent hearts in the world.
Two Israeli "faces" surfaced today. One is the decent
and humane face of the Israeli Anti war movement - an alliance
of Israeli citizens - Jews and Arabs, adamant to struggle
together for Justice for the two peoples. The second is the
ugly and brutal face of the Occupation mentality and practices
threatening to crush us as well. We are committed to continue
our joint struggle, side by side with you in our spirit, despite
the physical barriers and the different methods. We know that
eventually we will gain an upper hand. With Solidarity.
Yehudith Harel
* Ta'ayush had been organizing the food and medicines
convoy. Through them we got direct contact with one of the
truck drivers. It was confirmed that after much obstruction,
going back and forth and a lot of waiting most of the goods
in the end got to their destination - AK
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