Israelis Join School Children Protest

Israelis Join School Children Protest

[] "Let them go to school" - joining the A-Ram protest (a report) [] Promotion of Palestinian democracy the Israeli way "Let them go to school" - Israelis joined A-Ram protest (a report)

[Hebrew versions soon at the site //òáøéú á÷øåá áàúø ]

More then a thousand schoolchildren, boys and girls from 6 to 14, wearing their school uniforms and carrying bags, demonstrated today (Monday, 13.9) at the wall that is being built in a-Ram. The pupils carried posters demanding: “Let Us Study!”

150 Israeli activists of Gush Shalom, Ta’ayush, Bat-Shalom, Rabbis for Human Rights and others joined the protest.

Throughout the demonstration, giant cranes continued to lift concrete slabs into place, and a strong force of the Border Police was deployed along the path of the wall. “They are waiting for one boy to throw a stone, in order to attack us with tear gas and rubber-coated bullets, like last time,” Uri Avnery remarked. However, the teachers succeeded all through the demonstration, with the help of mayor Sirkhan Saleimeh, in preventing even one stone being thrown, though the distance between the pupils and the Border Policemen was only a few yards. After most of the demonstrators had already dispersed, some children threw stones and the policemen promptly stormed forward and used tear gas.

Since the Israeli Supreme Court permitted the government to build the wall in this particular sector, the wall has been going up at great speed. Only a few “holes” remain. When the wall will be finished, it will cut the children of a-Ram off from their schools which are located on the “Israeli” side of the wall, at a distance of a few dozen meters. Some of the schools will have to be closed and their pupils will roam the streets, because the remaining schools, already overcrowded, will not be able to absorb them. Haaretz reports today that a similar situation exists in near-by al-Issawiyeh.

This is only one of the problems caused by the wall, which is cutting off a-Ram residents from their businesses and working-places, hospitals, universities and even their cemetery.

Photo's soon on the site: www.gush-shalom.org

[] Promotion of Palestinian democracy the Israeli way

[Gush Shalom ad to be published in Ha'aretz, Sept. 15 ]

Democratic Occupation

The day before yesterday, the Sharon government closed several offices in East Jerusalem, accusing them of working for the elections of the Palestinian Presidency and Parliament.

According to the Oslo agreements, the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem has the right to vote for the institutions of the Palestinian Authority, and it did in fact take part in the last elections, under the personal supervision of President Jimmy Carter.

This act proves that the Sharon government is determined to prevent democratic elections for the Palestinian Authority – elections that are anyhow almost impossible under occupation. Sharon will simply remove by “targeted eliminations” candidates he does not like and prevent free movement of all others.

But Sharon and Bush will continue to prattle on about “promoting democracy in the Arab world” and complain about the “undemocratic character” of the Palestinian Authority and its elected President, Yasser Arafat.

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WELCOME

To the five who protested against the occupation and refused to serve in the occupied territories, who where sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and who are to be released today, on New Year’s Eve. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~- Gush Shalom: ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~- # Selected articles from THE OTHER ISRAEL September issue at: http://otherisrael.home.igc.org/

# Truth against Truth - opposite views on the history of the conflict in 101 steps

Hebrew / òáøéú http://www.gush-shalom.org/Docs/Truth_Heb.pdf

English http://www.gush-shalom.org/Docs/Truth_Eng.pdf

# Boycott List of Settlement Products (newly updated) Now also with list of settlements Hebrew / òáøéú http://gush-shalom.org/Boycott/boycheb.htm

English http://gush-shalom.org/Boycott/boyceng.htm

-- http://www.gush-shalom.org/ (òáøéú/Hebrew) http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html (English) http://www.gush-shalom.org/arabic/index.html (selected articles in Arabic)

with \\photos of recent actions \\the weekly Gush Shalom ad \\the columns of Uri Avnery \\Gush Shalom's history & action chronicle \\position papers & analysis (in "documents") \\and a lot more

N.B.: On the Gush Shalom website links for Articles and documents in German, French and Spanish

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