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20,000 Israelis rally for peace
Speakers urge nation to end occupation of West Bank, Gaza Strip
Dina Shiloh, Chronicle Foreign Service
Sunday, February 17, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/02/17/MN144828.DTL



A record number of Israelis rallied here for peace last night -- the biggest demonstration staged by the Israeli left since Palestinian-Israeli violence broke out in September 2000.

The demonstrators -- Israeli media estimated the size of the crowd at 20, 000 -- listened to both Israeli and Palestinian speakers who had one central message: the need for Israel to leave the West Bank and Gaza.

The night's biggest applause was for Sari Nusseibeh, who is Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's chief envoy in Jerusalem.

Nusseibeh, also the president of Al Quds University, was speaking in front of an Israeli rally for the first time. He spoke in a halting Hebrew and appealed to the audience emotionally.

"I am here to tell you that there is no one to speak to, except Abu Ammar (Arafat), but there are answers to the problems: a return to the 1967 border, and two states for two people . . . We want a warm peace, not a cold peace, between our nations," he told the receptive audience.

Such public appearances by Palestinian officials in Israel are extremely rare these days, and Nusseibeh's decision to appear underscored his emerging role as an important advocate for ending almost 17 months of deadly violence and for resuming peace talks.

A growing number of Israelis say their country should pull out of at least part of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, even without a peace agreement.

Carrying signs bearing such messages as "This occupation is killing us all" and "Out of the territories, now," the demonstrators applauded and cheered when the speakers spoke critically of the coalition government.

"Brother, brother, get out of the territories," chanted the demonstrators.

A new student peace group called the Green Line called on Labor politicians,

especially Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, to leave the government that joins the Labor Party with the right-wing Likud in a coalition. If the Labor ministers pulled out, the government would collapse and new elections would be called.

"We call on (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and Arafat: Enough blood! Enough blood!" Yossi Sarid of the Meretz Party told the rally.

The rally followed another deadly day for both Israelis and Palestinians, including a suicide bombing, a gunbattle and a car explosion that resulted in seven deaths.

The demonstration gave a much-needed shot in the arm to Israel's peace movement.

"This rally is the resurrection of the moribund peace movement that was devastated by the events following the collapse of the talks at Camp David (in April 2000)," said Levi Weiman-Kelman, a Reform rabbi from Jerusalem who demonstrated in the same square against the Lebanon war two decades ago.

"We came today to try to stop the war which is about to take place between Palestinians and Israelis," said Azmi Bedeir, an Arab Israeli from Kfar Kassem in the Galilee. "The fact that there are so many people at this demonstration is a sign that the Israeli public is finally being roused from its apathy."

Over the years, Israeli political movements have always held their biggest rallies in central Tel Aviv. Some have even changed government policies.

Rallies held in the early 1980s, organized by Peace Now, attracted half a million people, and are credited with Israel's eventual withdrawal from Lebanon and the end of the Lebanon war -- often dubbed "Israel's Vietnam."

The coalition of peace groups that drummed up support for last night's rally included some new groups, such as Green Line: Students for Borders, but also others that have long been in the forefront of the Israeli peace movement,

such as Peace Now.

Also in the crowd were some of the approximately 250 Israeli army reservists who have refused to serve in the West Bank and Gaza.

The protest movement against the Israeli army's conduct in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in nearly 17 months of fighting with the Palestinians has touched off a firestorm of debate in a nation where army service is a pillar of citizenship.

The spokesman for Peace Now, one of the organizers of the rally, said the march and rally are the first major activities in the new "Get Out of the Territories -- Get Back to Ourselves" campaign. The campaign is trying to inspire a public debate on the continued occupation and its impact on Israel's future.

"We've planned a lot of activities in the next few months, including a huge rally on the 35th anniversary of the occupation, June 6," said Peace Now's spokesman, Didi Remez.



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PEACE COALITION
The Peace Coalition, which organized yesterday's rally, is composed of the following bodies: Peace Now: Israel's largest and oldest organization advocating that Israel leave the territories. Founded in 1978, it has mobilized hundreds of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets in the past.

Meretz: A political party, to the left of Labor, which holds 10 seats in the 120-member Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

Labor Doves: An informal union of Knesset members and other members of the Labor Party who want their party to leave the national unity government. Members include former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, architect of the Oslo peace accords.

Kibbutz Movement: The umbrella association of Israel's 200 kibbutzim, or agricultural co-operatives, most of which are still run on socialist principles and which are associated with the left.

Democratic Choice Party: A left-wing party with two Knesset members.

Hashomer Hatzair: The Socialist-Zionist youth movement of the Labor Party and other left-wing political parties.

Netivot Shalom: A religious peace movement.

Bereaved Family Forum: An organization founded in 1995, made up of both Jews and Arabs who have lost a member of their family as a result of the violence.

A recently formed group of university students who advocate Israel's withdrawal from the territories.

Other organizations present: A delegation from the group of approximately 250 reservists who refuse to serve in the West Bank and Gaza; Rabbis for Human Rights; Ta'ayush, an Israeli Arab-Jewish group; Women in Black; Yesh Gvul (Enough Is Enough); Gush Shalom (The Peace Bloc).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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