Mideast - AFP
Palestinians push peaceful protest message at West Bank barrier rally
Date: Fri, Aug 27, 2004
ABU DIS, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinians and Israelis rallied under the shadows of the West Bank barrier, vowing to follow in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi by pursuing a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict.
Arun Gandhi, the grandson of India's pacifist independence leader, told the crowds that the barrier was a source of agony for the Palestinian people and would not bring security to the Israelis.
"It's not a wall for security but was created to divide the people and creates much pain and agony for them," he told protesters from a makeshift stage in front of the towering blocks of concrete which have cut off Abu Dis from nearby Jerusalem.
"I would like to see the day when thousands of Israelis and Palestinians will march together to resolve the conflict and break the wall that divides them."
Mordechai Vanunu, the ex-nuclear technician who was jailed for blowing the whistle on the country's nuclear programme, was among the hundreds of Israeli activists who joined Palestinian residents.
Many carried banners with slogans such as: "The Wall -- No. Dialogue -- Yes" and "The Wall Must Fall".
At one point a group of around 10 men used ropes to scale the barrier where they sat on top but there were no clashes with Israeli forces.
The International Court of Justice has ruled that parts of the barrier -- a montage of concrete, razor-wire and electronic fencing -- built within the West Bank in places such as Abu Dis are illegal and should be torn down.
The Israeli government has vowed to ignore the non-binding verdict and insists that the barrier is essential to prevent suicide attacks on its territory.
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei, whose offices are in Abu Dis, also voiced his support for peaceful resistance in his address to the protesters.
"Our people are one of the people who believe in his (Mahatma Gandhi's) school of thought and have followed his steps since the beginning of the struggle," said Qorei, who also raised the plight of the Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons.
Addressing Arun Gandhi, Qorei said: "Your visit here coincides with the 13th day of the hunger strike by our prisoners who are entering into a dangerous phase all because they are asking to be treated like human beings."
Gandhi himself said that the prisoners were "being treated worse than animals", adding that such treatment was incompatible with Israel's commitment to democracy and human rights.
The prisoners are hoping their protest will lead to an across-the-board improvement in their conditions, including statutory visiting rights and an end to what they see as "humiliating" body and cell searches.
Some 8,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, with up to a half thought to be refusing food.
The Israeli government says it will not negotiate with the prisoners while Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi has said he is prepared to watch them die.
But in a statement issued Friday, the UN's top envoy to the region urged Israel to resolve its dispute with the prisoners and guarantee their health.
Terje Roed-Larsen "called on the Israeli authorities to comply with its international obligations and to make every effort to find, with the prisoners, an appropriate resolution to the hunger strike.
"The UN agencies and offices remind Israel of its obligations under the fourth Geneva Convention and relevant international human rights instruments which provide for the protection of detainees and prisoners," he added.
The cycle of violence claimed another casualty on Friday when a 71-year-old Palestinian died of injuries sustained in an Israeli helicopter strike in the southern Gaza Strip (news - web sites).
Jaduwa el-Qurd had been seriously injured in Thursday night's attack on a refugee camp in the town of Rafah which also wounded Mohammed Sheikh al-Khalil, a senior leader of the Palestinian militant organisation.
A member of another militant group, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, was killed in an overnight explosion in Gaza City's eastern Shejaya neighborhood. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.
The latest deaths brought the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, to 4,249, including 3,251 Palestinians and 927 Israelis.
SOURCE
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