Tel Aviv Peace Rally - enormous crowd, contradictions on the podium

[Classical_Liberal]

Still, on the podium covered with this slogan, the difference immediately became evident whith speakers contradicting each other. - Ami Ayalon, former Shabak head turned peacemaker: "I believe in the sincerety of Sharon. We must not treat the settlers as enemies. Settlements can only be evacuated by one who feels great pain and empathy." (This did not go well on the audience, and there were some angry mutterings.) - Tsali Reshef of Peace Now: "We have not the slightest trust in Sharon. We know that he wants to withdraw from Gaza in order to keep the West Bank. But just as he was forced to give up Gaza, we will force him to give up the West Bank. Ofra and Beth-El and Kedumim will be evacuated just like the Gaza settlements! Yes, they will!" (applause). - Reserve General turned businessman Yom-Tov Samiya: "Our armed forces; bought a lot of time for the political echelon to make a plan, but they can't do it forever. I support Sharon's concept of limited withdrawal from Gaza and a small part of the West Bank; the alternative is headlong flight like from Lebanon, which will encourage terrorism." (He got a very scattered applause, quite a few people felt that such a person - who initiated the concept of destroying Rafah houses to widen the "security belt" - should not have been on the podium.) - Yosi Beilin, initiator of "Geneva" and head of the Meretz/Yachad Party: "Those who refuse peace have tried everything, targeted killings which are not always very targeted; re-invading the West Bank and Gaza; destroying fields and groves and houses - 1800 houses destroyed; burning the fact of defeat into the other side's consciousness and doing it again and again and again. The one thing which they did not try is to make peace. Those who say that there is no partner are those who don't want to talk!" (The biggest applause of the evening.) - Amir Peretz, trade-union leader and head of the One People Party: "In 1977, the electorate toppled the Labor Party rule, and brought the Likud to power; but they did not do it in order to help the Greater Israel ideology; they did it because they felt second-class citizens. But the money did not go to the slums; it went all to the settlements. We should end the cruel occupation, we should disengage from Gaza, but that is not all; we should re-engage with Israeli society, with the values of humanity and social justice." - And of course, the inevitable Labor Party leader, Shimon Peres: "There had been very much talk of a Unity Government . But what is needed is a Unity Policy. We are not here a demonstration of the left. We are a demonstration of the majority. The government represents only a minority." - And then, a surprise speaker: "My name is Eliezer Bidu, I live in the settlement of Omarim, south of Hebron. I went there fourteen years ago because I was promised 'quality of life' for my family. What a quality of life! A few months ago our car was shot at. A bullet passed near the head of my baby son. I can't sleep at night, I want to get out of there. Not to live guarded by soldiers day and night, on disputed land among neighbors who hate me. I want to live in the real Israel, and I am not the only one."

All this time, the radical groups who have been excluded from the podium, were busy among the enormous crowd, adding the points which none of the speakers made. On the day before the rally, organizers announced that signs advocating refusal will be banned - but in practice nobody stopped Courage to Refuse and Yesh Gvul from holding up "It will not end if you don't refuse!", while the Refuser Parents Forum collected a considerable number of signatures in support of the six imprisoned refusers. We ourselves were busy distributing Gush Shalom leaflets: "It should be said in clear words: Arafat is the partner; an agreement without his signature has no value; he is the only one who can convince his people to a compromise." And people were flocking around the Gush Shalom stall, taking up the "Truth Against Truth" brochure (now alo available in English!) as well as last-minute stickers "Destruction of Rafah - War Crime" and "Philadelphi Route - a Death Trap."

The whole spectrum of moderate and radical groups were there with stalls and stickers: Women's Peace Coalition, the Geneva Initiative, the Communist Youth, the Ayalon-Nusseibeh plan, the Labor Youth, Ta'ayush, Yachad Youth, Socialist Workers League, MachsomWatch, the Working and Studying Youth, Chadash, the Anarchists ("two states for two people is two states too many"). The newly-founded "Shuvi" women were collecting signatures on their petition for withdrawal from Gaza (reportedly they already flooded the email of the PM's office). The "Daber" initiative told about collecting testimonies of soldiers who had served in the territories, while "All for Peace" are initiating a peace radio, to begin with through the internet.....

http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2004%20News%20archives/May/17%20n/The%20rally%20-%20enormous%20crowd,%20contradictions%20on%20the%20podium.htm

[Scurrilous]

1. Hazofe editor apologizes for Nazi slur

http://www.maarivenglish.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=7484

<snip>

Editor Gonen Ginat called those who attended Saturday night’s peace rally “skinheads” in league with Hamas

"Hazofe editor Gonen Ginat has apologized for his intemperate and inappropriate remarks. In Friday’s editorial he wrote about “the skinhead demonstration to take place tomorrow evening, which, together with Hamas, is calling Judenraus”.

The veteran daily is the organ of the NRP, and is considered a right wing conservative religious publication.

Following the furor the remarks made, which were exacerbated by Ginat’s attempts to make light of the slur, several regular op-ed contributors, including such luminaries as Rabbi Yuval Sherlow said that unless an apology was forthcoming, they would cease contributing to the paper."