More than 500 demonstrators, mostly Orthodox Jews, gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles last weekend to oppose Israel\’s planned, upcoming pullout of settlers from Gaza.
This July, Israel will implement the government\’s plan to evacuate Jews living in the Gaza Strip and areas of the West Bank. Opponents of this policy, as we have been hearing and reading, are preparing a series of measures, including massive civil disobedience intended to prevent this from taking place. Other, more radical opponents, we have been informed, may be planning even more extreme actions.
Sharon hopes to create sufficient motivation among settlers to evacuate their homes willingly in exchange for generous compensation packages, avoiding violent confrontations like those in Yamit.
Nonie Darwish spreads an Egyptian newspaper across her knees and points to an old black-and-white photograph of a family. She identifies her father, mother and siblings in the photo.
Altogether, approximately 700 pro-Israel demonstrators from around the world gathered in the Dutch capital to bear witness and protest the travesty of justice taking place.
Local activists protesting Israeli policies have expanded this month at various events that have attracted a range of pro-Palestinian activists, scholars and clergy from across Southern California.
Yuri Gottesman is a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a motley group of activists from around the world that converge in the West Bank and Gaza ostensibly to encourage the Palestinians to engage in nonviolent resistance against the Israelis.
Amit Duvshani, who is completing his master\’s degree in molecular biology at the University of Tel Aviv, e-mailed Andrew Wilkie, a geneticist at Oxford University, asking to work in Wilkie\’s lab to continue his research into HIV.\n\nWilkie\’s e-mailed response has since seen the world via the Internet. He rejected Duvshani\’s request on the grounds that the young man served in the \”oppressive\” Israeli army, as is compulsory for all Jewish Israeli men.
\”While we all hope for freedom in Iran, we perceive this as an Iranian, rather than a Jewish, issue,\” one source said. \”On a practical level, if Iran were to become a democracy, many expatriate Muslims would probably go back but very few Jews.\”
The rally demonstrated the county\’s growing Jewish vocal involvement on Israeli matters, and heightened the Israeli community\’s plight so far from home.
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