Peace activists march on Kissufim crossing

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/430445.html

By Nir Hasson. Lili Galili, Yuval Yoaz and Tsahar Rotem, Haaretz
Correspondents, and Itim

Hundreds of people marched on the Kissufim crossing between the Gaza
Strip and Israel on Friday to protest the Israel Defense Forces operation
in Rafah, in which 40 Palestinians have been killed as the army works to
flush out militants and drug smugglers in the south Gaza refugee camp.

The demonstration was supposed to take place at the Sufa crossing, which
is closer to Rafah, but the protesters decided on Kissufim instead after
being threatened by police at the Sufa crossing, protest organizers said.

The peace bloc issued a statement Friday saying, "None of us can sit at
home at a time like this. None of us can say, ’We didn’t know!’"

Six people were held for questioning during the march, three of whom were
released a short time later. Protesters blocked the road, and vowed to
remain there until the three remaining detainees were also released.

On Thursday, about 500 people demonstrated for the second consecutive day
in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. The demonstration was
organized by Peace Now and attended by members of refusnik organizations,
the Yahad Knesset faction, the Yahad youth movement, and leftist student
groups.

Yahad chairman Yossi Beilin called for an immediate evacuation of the
Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Sharon’s plan to evacuate the Strip in
stages would mean getting stuck there. An unusually large police
contingent was present but unlike the previous day’s demonstration, it
passed without disruption.

At a hearing on a police request to release with limitations two minors
arrested during Wednesday’s demonstration, Youth Court judge Ruth Ben-
Hanoch said: "The court must warn against using court procedures to
silence protesters or limit their rights to express their opinions."
Judge Ben-Hanoch had harsh words for the behavior of the police in
holding the minors overnight at Abu Kabir lockup.

Attorney Gabi Laski will submit a complaint to the police investigations
unit in the Justice Ministry with regard to one minor who needed medical
care after an injury by police during the demonstration. In an unusual
move, all attorneys for the eight people arrested during Wednesday’s
demonstration were denied access to their clients at the Yarkon region
police station, although ambulances had to be summoned for three who were
injured.

Among the six adults arrested in Wednesday’s demonstration were David
Zonshein of Courage to Refuse, and Yonatan Pollack of the anarchists’
movement, who were released yesterday. The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court
refused a police request to limit their approach to within a one-
kilometer radius of the demonstration area, and all six returned to
demonstrate yesterday.

Yonatan Shapira, among the signatories to the pilots’ refusnik letter,
and his brother Zohar, who signed the Sayeret Matkal refusniks’ letter,
said that police officers threatened to kill them if they did not let go
of the four-meter-long black flag they held during the demonstration.

Zami Ben-Horin, of Kibbutz Ga’ash on the coastal plain, started a protest
march Thursday from Rabin Square in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Ben-Horin, who
is calling for an Israeli evacuation from the Gaza Strip, is accompanied
by his wife Sigal, his son Gal, age 14, and his daughter Orian, age 12.
Ben-Horin, who described himself as "not one who demonstrates in the
squares" said the deaths of the 12 soldiers in the Gaza Strip last week
brought him out of his apathy.

[] How to send donations to newly-homeless families at Rafah

At the Kisufim Checkpoint rally, Dr. Anat Matar of Tel-Aviv Univesity
appealed to those gathered - and to symapthizers elsewhere - to give
donations helping the newly homeless familes at Rafah to rebuild their
homes and their lives. The project - now more necessary than ever - had
been going on since 2001, when the army started the policy of destroying
houses at Rafah. Donations are sent to Khalil Shahin, a human rights
activist in Rafah, who happens to live at the Tel Sultan Neighborhood
which was directly hit by the latest Israeli military incursion.
Matar tells that in the last few months she passed over to Shahin three
sums:

At the end of 2003, 20,000 NIS that were distributed to 30 families,
numbering 245 persons; in February 2004 - 40,000 NIS to 54 families (473
people); and on May 9 (right before the IDF invasion) 40,000 NIS whose
distribution was greatly disrupted by the invasion and will continue in
the coming weeks. Immediately upon hearing the news of massive new house
demolitions, a new effort was launched by Ta’ayush, whose activists
already collected 4,000 NIS just during the two hours of the giant May 15
rally held on Tel-Aviv’s Rabin Square by the mainstream peace groups.
The money is distributed by a team of volunteers headed by Khalil, whose
members include members of the Demolished Homes’ Families Committee and
social wokers. Khalil himself works in the Palestinian Human Rights
Centre in Gaza and distributes the money voluntarily, not as part of his
job. After each distribution he sends a detailed report with the names of
the families who got the donation, how many people in each family and how
much was donated.

Donations can be sent by cheque, made out to Anat Matar, to:

Dr. Anat Matar, 33 Bernstein-Cohen Street, Ramat Hasharon 47213, Israel
or the money can be deposited to Ta’ayush’ bank account: Bank Hapoalim,
account no. 396608, Ramat Aviv Branch (606). Please inform Anat Matar
about your donation.

For further details:

Anat Matar, ++972-3-5408977 ; e-mail:Matar@post.tau.ac.il