A bunch of us went to Tel Aviv on Sunday June 10 for a
demonstration marking the 40th anniversary of the start of the
Occupation.
It was fun and great to be there! We did not understand many of the
signs, banners and chants ... but the spirit and basic message were
clear. There are lots of young and old Israelis against the
occupation! With drummers, dancers, clowns and high spirits the
march reminded me of some demonstrations in San Francisco. Lots of
kids. The long procession - many thousands strong - was led by an
elderly lady carrying a large poster photograph of a Palestinian
child crying in front of a demolished building.
Gush shalom was there in force.... distributing posters with the
Israeli and Palestinian flags side by side.
During the rally at the beginning and before the march began, a
friend and I each carried one of the posters with Israeli and
Palestinian flags. We went across the street to a sandwhich shop to
buy a snack. As we waited at the street corner, one of the cars
waiting at the red light 10 feet away, honked. We looked over, half
expecting to see a sign of greeting. Unfortunately it was an old
man shaking his fist at us. A moment later we had another reality
check on the Israeli population. There were two sexy young Israeli
woman right in front of us as we waited to cross the street. They
turned and asked in broken English "Why are you carrying that
sign??! There is no room here for Arabs!"
Across the street, at the cafe we ordered sandwhiches to go. The
Israeli who took the order helped us since we spoke no Hebrew. As
we went to pay I noticed the bill was much less than it should have
been and I asked for clarification. He responded that we were
getting a discount. Why? A nod to the poster.
demonstration marking the 40th anniversary of the start of the
Occupation.
It was fun and great to be there! We did not understand many of the
signs, banners and chants ... but the spirit and basic message were
clear. There are lots of young and old Israelis against the
occupation! With drummers, dancers, clowns and high spirits the
march reminded me of some demonstrations in San Francisco. Lots of
kids. The long procession - many thousands strong - was led by an
elderly lady carrying a large poster photograph of a Palestinian
child crying in front of a demolished building.
Gush shalom was there in force.... distributing posters with the
Israeli and Palestinian flags side by side.
During the rally at the beginning and before the march began, a
friend and I each carried one of the posters with Israeli and
Palestinian flags. We went across the street to a sandwhich shop to
buy a snack. As we waited at the street corner, one of the cars
waiting at the red light 10 feet away, honked. We looked over, half
expecting to see a sign of greeting. Unfortunately it was an old
man shaking his fist at us. A moment later we had another reality
check on the Israeli population. There were two sexy young Israeli
woman right in front of us as we waited to cross the street. They
turned and asked in broken English "Why are you carrying that
sign??! There is no room here for Arabs!"
Across the street, at the cafe we ordered sandwhiches to go. The
Israeli who took the order helped us since we spoke no Hebrew. As
we went to pay I noticed the bill was much less than it should have
been and I asked for clarification. He responded that we were
getting a discount. Why? A nod to the poster.
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