No subject

The arrest and aftermath of the 19 activists from Anarchists Against
the Wall who did a "die in" at Tel Aviv's air force base, was
extraordinary.  There is a video of the arrest (in hebrew) and it
clearly shows them being ordered to move to the sidewalk, doing so,
and then being arrested anyway (see video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DWpeC7P-2LfU).  They were held for an
un-precedented three days before being charged, and in the meantime
activists' homes have been entered, computers have been taken, and
even additional arrests have been made by the police.  The Anarchists
have been one of the most effective groups working against the
Occupation, and my sense is that the state is taking this opportunity
to both to try to deter others from civil disobedience as well as try
to do damage to the group, under cover of the invasion and less outcry
on invasions of civil liberties in a "democracy."  It is also
important to note that there are reports that numerous Palestinian
Israelis have
been arrested from their homes as well since the invasion began, but
there has been no focus (at least in the English or Hebrew press) on
these actions whatsoever.

***

Gush Shalom report on Saturday night's demonstration:

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/events/1231029668

At the same time as Ehud Barak was ordering the army to start the
bloody ground offensive against Gaza, some ten thousand protesters
from all over Israel marched in Tel-Aviv in a massive demonstration
against the war. All four lanes of Ibn Gvirol St., one of the city's
main throughfares, were packed full of demonstrators who marched the
two kiolometres from the Rabin Square to the Cinemateque, chanting and
waving banners all the way.

"One does not build an election campaign over the dead bodies of
children!" shouted the protesters in Hebrew rhymes. "Orphans and
widows are not election propaganda!", "Olmert, Livni and Barak =96 war
is no game!"' "All cabinet ministers are war criminals!!" Barak,
Barak, don't worry =96 we shall meet you in The Hague!", "Enough, enough
=96 speak with Hamas!"

The written posters were similar. Some of them paraphrased Barak's
election slogans: "Barak is not friendly, he is a murderer!" (The
original Barak slogan says: "Barak is not friendly, he is a leader!")
Also: "No to the Election War, 2009!" and "The six-Knesset-seat war!"
=96 an allusion to the polls which showed that in the first days of the
war Barak's Labor Party has gained six prospective seats.

The demonstration took place after a fight with the police, which
tried to prevent or at least limit it, arguing that they would not be
able to stop right-wing rioters from attacking it. Among other things,
the police demanded that the organizers undertake to prevent the
hoisting of Palestinian flags. The organizers petitioned the High
Court of Justice, which decided that the Palestinian flag is legal and
ordered the police to protect the demonstration from rioters,

The demonstration was decided upon by Gush Shalom and 20 other peace
organizations, including the Women's Coalition for Peace, Anarchists
Against the Wall, Hadash, the Alternative Information Center and New
Profile. Meretz and Peace Now did not participate officially, but many
of their members showed up. Some thousand Arab citizens from the north
arrived in 20 buses straight from the big demonstration of the Arab
public which had taken place in Sakhnin.

The organizers themselves were surprised by the large number of
protesters. "A week after the start of Lebanon War II, we succeeded in
mobilizing only 1000 demonstrators against it. The fact that today
there came 10,000 proves that the opposition to the war is much
stronger this time. If Barak goes on with his plans, public opinion
may completely turn against the war in a few days."

The giant Gush Shalom banner said in Hebrew, Arabic and English: "Stop
Killing! Stop the Siege! Stop the occupation!" The slogan of the
demonstration called for the end of the blockade and an immediate
cease-fire.

On the day of the protest, the extreme Right mobilized their forces in
order to break up the demonstration by force. The police made a great
effort to prevent riots, and the one-mile march from Rabin Square to
Cinematheque Square proceeded relatively quietly. However, when the
protesters started to disperse, in accordance with the agreement with
the police, a large crowd of rightists started to attack them. The
police, which till then had been keeping the two camps apart,
disappeared from the scene. The rioters then encircled the last of the
protesters, harassing them, pushing them about and at a certain point
started to besiege the Cinematheque building, where some of the last
protesters had found refuge. They tried to break into the building,
threatening to "finish off" the protesters, but at the last moment
some police arrived and protected the entrance. The rioters stayed
around for a long time.

***