Protests for Gaza in Holland
Since Israel started its attacks on Gaza, four big demonstrations have been organized in the Netherlands. Organizations from different political, religious and ethnic backgrounds have joined forces in a Platform that calls upon the Dutch government to act against Israel and demand Israel to stop the attacks and the occupation of Palestine.
Immediately after the news of the attacks reached the Netherlands, people gathered at the main square in Amsterdam for a vigil.
Three days later a group of Arabic students who are studying in Holland organized a protest in the Hague, the city where the government is seated and where the embassies are located. During a march that passed the government, the American and the Israeli embassy, around 2000 people showed their grief and demanded the Dutch politicians to act against Israels violence.
A Jewish Israeli living in Holland took the stage near the Israeli embassy and condemned his government for the occupation of Palestine and the recent attacks on the Gaza strip. The Palestinians cheered for him and showed him their respect for his support.
On Friday another demonstration took place in the city of Rotterdam, the main port and the 2nd biggest city of the Netherlands. A group of 1500 people protested. This protest was organized by the local branches of four political parties that condemn Israels attacks on Gaza.
Today ten thousand people demonstrated in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. The protest started with a manifestation with speeches from different representatives of the organizations and political parties and with a music performance by a Palestinian group.
The Netherlands has two large immigrant communities, from Morocco and Turkey. From both groups many representatives were present and they showed their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
During the demonstration the demonstrators marched through the city center of Amsterdam chanting for a free Palestine and condemning the Dutch government for its complicity with the siege and bombing of Gaza.
Until now the government has not responded or voiced its concern for the people of Gaza.
A member of the Socialist Party and spokesman for Foreign Affairs chanted: ‘Intifada, Intifada, Palestine Free Now!’ with the rest of the protestors. After the demonstration he has called the government for an urgent debate to force them to condemn the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
In the next days more actions against the Israeli invasion into the Gazastrip will follow. Currently a plan for a 24 hour presence to protest near the Israeli embassy in the Hague are being discussed.
Polish protesters call for end to Gaza attacks
January 4 2009
Warsaw
More than 100 people demonstrated at the Israeli Embassy in the Polish capital Warsaw on Sunday, holding up shoes and burning an image of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, following the launch Saturday of an Israeli ground invasion into the Gaza Strip .
‘Israel is massacring one of the poorest peoples in the region,’ said organizer Filip Ilkowski, of the Stop War Initiative. ‘On one hand we have a tragedy, but on the other hand we have an opposition that gives us hope.’
Protestor Suleman Bahayat held up shoes and waved an Iraqi flag, saying Israel should, ‘learn from Bush and look at where the US is now.’ Other protesters placed candles in front of the embassy, before a Palestinian participant led a prayer in Arabic. One Polish woman held an Israeli flag and a sign saying, ‘Leave Israel alone.’
Police, protesters clash near U.S. Beirut embassy
Palestinian and Lebanese protesters wave Hamas flags as they march Sunday during a demonstration held by Hamas movement and Islamic groups to protest Israel’s attacks against the Gaza Strip, in Beirut, Lebanon. (Associated Press)
By Bassem Mroue
January 05, 2009
BEIRUT, Lebanon
Police fired tear gas on Sunday at scores of demonstrators rallying against Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza as the protesters tried to reach the U.S. Embassy compound north of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Thousands also held an anti-Israel demonstration in Turkey as news coverage of the invasion, launched late Saturday, dominated Arab satellite television stations. Many of them, including Al-Jazeera, are showing live footage of the Gaza Strip and airing interviews with wounded Palestinians.
Israel’s weeklong aerial bombardment of Gaza and the start of the ground offensive Saturday have sparked strong condemnation across the Muslim and Arab world.
Thousands in cities from Tehran to Damascus have taken to the streets to protest the attacks, which have killed about 500 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,600, according to Gaza officials.
In some cases, the protests of the past week were as directed against Arab governments — especially Egypt and Jordan — as much as Israel, with many voicing criticism of their perceived inaction or lack of sufficient support of the Palestinians.
Israel says the aim of the operation is to stop the Palestinian militant Hamas group from firing rockets at southern Israeli towns.
Lebanese police first used water hoses to try to push about 250 demonstrators away from the U.S. Embassy. But when that didn’t work, they fired tear gas, said Lebanese security officials.
Five civilians and one policeman were lightly injured in the clash, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Later in the day, thousands of supporters of Hamas and Lebanon’s Islamic Group held a sit-in outside the U.N. building in central Beirut. Dozens of riot police stood guard.
“This battle will end a (peace) settlement forever,” Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, told the protesters. “This battle will show who are the men. Are they those who kiss (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert? … or those who are prepared to die?” he said in an apparent reference to Palestinian leaders who hold peace talks with Israel.
Hamas is opposed to any peace settlement with Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
In Turkey, more than 5,000 people held an anti-Israel rally in Istanbul, waving Palestinian flags and burning effigies of Olmert and President George W. Bush. Also in Istanbul, club-wielding police broke up a small demonstration by protesters who hurled eggs at the Israeli Consulate, the private Dogan news agency reported. There were no reports of arrests or injuries.
Also Sunday, the leaders of Egypt and Jordan — the only two Mideast Arab nations that signed peace treaties with Israel — condemned the ground offensive in Gaza and called for ending Israel’s attacks.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also denounced Israel’s ground offensive as “brutal aggression” in his harshest words yet in describing Israel’s assault on his Hamas rivals in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, discussed the situation in Gaza with visiting chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, the group’s Al-Manar TV said.
Al-Manar did not give further details but said Nasrallah and Jalili, who arrived here Saturday from neighboring Syria, discussed “ways of ending this aggression.”
Hezbollah, which is a strong ally of Hamas, possesses a formidable arsenal of rockets and missiles that bloodied Israel during a monthlong war in 2006. Hezbollah has not threatened to join Hamas in its current battle with Israel, but Nasrallah said last week that his men are on alert in case Israel attacks Lebanon.
Dublin demonstration against Gaza attacks draws 600
January 5 2009
Protesters praying outside Leinster House during a demonstration against the war being waged by Israel in the Gaza Strip. The event took place in Dublin at the weekend. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh
A protestor who attempted to set his jacket on fire at the Dublin street demonstration against the Isreali attacks on Gaza on Saturday. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh
A MAN attempted to set himself alight at a protest in Dublin on Saturday against the war in Gaza.
The man, who appeared visibly distraught, set his arms and shoulders alight before onlookers managed to extinguish the flames. He was not seriously injured.
The incident happened at around 1.45pm on Saturday at the Central Bank where about 600 people gathered to protest against Israeli attacks in Gaza.
The protest continued to the Dáil, where some demonstrators burned an Israeli flag. Dozens more knelt on Kildare Street to pray. Some children attending the protest with their parents were dressed in military fatigues and green Hamas headbands.
Kevin Squires of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign branded Israeli actions war crimes.
“This latest series of war crimes in Gaza is completely beyond the pale,” Mr Squires said. “Action needs to be taken. Israel can no longer get away with this.”
The Young Greens expressed their disappointment the protest had been disrupted by “a small group of fanatics”.
Speaking after attending the protest, party chairman Barra Roantree said the fact some people had used the opportunity to burn the Israeli flag and dress children in military fatigues was “not only unhelpful, but utterly contradictory to the aims of the world peace movement”: “Those who burn flags and glorify violence only fan the flames of the tragic conflict in the Middle East.”
Other demonstrations took place in Galway, Cork, Limerick, Derry and Sligo.
Speakers at the Sligo demonstration called on the Government to expel the Israeli ambassador to Ireland and for the public to boycott Israeli goods.
Supporters were asked to make the northwest an “Israeli-goods-free zone”.
Among those who addressed the crowd of 100 was Sligo mayor Veronica Cawley, who lit a candle in support of the Palestinian people.
Hundreds of Thailand Muslims protest Israel’s attack on Gaza
January 5 2009
Bangkok-Hundreds of Thai Muslims demonstrated Monday in front of Israel’s embassy in Bangkok, waving banners, burning the Israeli flag and slingshotting balls of protest statements at the premises in reaction to Tel Aviv’s invasion of Gaza.
About 400 members of the Muslim Group for Peace rallied in front of the embassy waving banners reading ‘Destroy Israel,’ ‘Stop the bloodshed,’ ‘Free Gaza’ and ‘Where is the UN?’
After reading out a statement condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza the protestors used slingshots to shoot rolled up balls of the statement at the Ocean Tower II Building, which houses the Israeli embassy on the 25th floor.
The protestors then burned the Israeli flag.
‘Thai Muslims must condemn Israel for their attack on Gaza,’ said Usma Lukyee, a leader of the Muslim Group for Peace. ‘We want to send our support to our brothers in Palestine.’
Usma said the group would hold another demonstration outside the Israeli embassy on Tuesday, when he expected over 1,000 Thai-Muslims to show up from all parts of Thailand.
Most of the demonstrators outside the embassy on Monday came from the large Muslim community living in Thonburi, Bangkok’s sister city.
Muslims are a minority in Thailand, accounting for about 5 per cent of the population which is predominantly Buddhist.
An exception is Thailand’s three southernmost provinces – Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala – where 80 per cent of the 2 million people are Muslim.
The area has been the scene of constant violence since January, 2004, when Muslim militants attacks an army arms depot and stole about 300 war weapons, prompting several bloody reprisals on the rebels that inflamed local antagonism against authorities.
Clashes, bombs, assassinations and beheadings have claimed some 3,000 casualties in the area over the past four years.
The three provinces comprised the independent Islamic sultanate of Pattani more than 200 years ago before it fell under Bangkok’s rule.
A separatist struggle has simmered in the area for decades.
Australian demonstrations show solidarity with Palestinian people
January 5 2009
Just hours after the first media reports of the launch of the Israeli ground assault on the Gaza Strip, protests in Australia’s major cities of Melbourne and Sydney drew thousands into the streets to condemn the Zionist state and show solidarity with the besieged Palestinian people.
A section of the demonstration in MelbourneThe demonstration in central Melbourne was at least 6,000-strong, twice as large as an earlier demonstration held last week. In addition to large contingents of Palestinian and Middle Eastern people, a wide range of people of different backgrounds were at the protest, including workers, retirees, and students.
About 1,000 also attended a peace vigil on Saturday evening which had been called by several imams. The vigil was staged in the northern suburb of Broadmeadows, which is home to many Arab and Muslim Australians.
At the main protest yesterday, many people carried banners and placards they had made themselves, including, “Stop mass killing in Palestine now”, “Palestine you are not forgotten”, “Dispossession, bombings, a planned genocide?”, “Gaza: the world’s biggest concentration camp”, “As world sleeps, Gaza bleeds”, “Rudd and Gillard, nothing new, US lackeys through and through”.
Many protestors expressed their anger towards the Labor government’s support for Israel’s offensive and the media for their biased coverage. But protest organisers from the Justice for Palestine group offered no viable political perspective. They told the rally that by writing letters to both Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Murdoch press they could make their voices heard and force policy changes. One person, undoubtedly reflecting the mood of the protestors, responded by shouting at the platform: “They’d just shred the letters!”
In Sydney, over 6,000 demonstrators wove their way through the city from the Town Hall, past the Egyptian consulate and to Belmore Park near the Central railway station. The majority were from the city’s large Arab community, many of whom still have family in Gaza, the West Bank, or in the south of Lebanon, which was attacked by Israel in 2006. They were joined by hundreds of workers and students from other backgrounds.
Many carried the Palestinian flag or wore the traditional keffiyeh Palestinian scarf. Some wore green, white and black-banded bandanas—the colours of the Palestinian national movement. Groups of men and teenagers marched carrying mock coffins, some under the green flag of Hamas, others under the black flag of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. Some groups marched under the banner of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.
Several families carried moving hand-made montages made up of images of the death and destruction that has been inflicted over the past week. Others carried impassioned hand-written placards denouncing the US Bush administration, the silence of world governments, and comparing the Zionist actions with the Nazi holocaust against the Jewish people.
The demonstration was highly emotional. Chants of “Free Palestine” and “Down, down Israel” echoed through the city. The concluding rally in Belmore Park began with young boys speaking of their sorrow over the suffering being endured by the children of Gaza. Speakers highlighted the number of deaths and injuries that had already been inflicted. A protestor managed to phone his relative in Gaza and the man’s words of defiance were broadcast over the sound system.
As in Melbourne, however, the protest organisers advanced no alternative perspective for the Palestinian people. Their political demands consisted only of appeals for governments around the world, and the Labor government in Australia, to pressure Israel to withdraw from Gaza.
Sentiments of protestors
In interviews with World Socialist Web Site correspondents, participants in the demonstration openly expressed their view that appeals to the Labor government would have no impact on the Zionist aggression. They also voiced hostility toward the Arab governments and skepticism that a new Obama administration would bring about any change in US policy toward Israel.
Nadia Haman attended the Melbourne protest with her mother Siham, who was born in Lebanon and migrated to Australia in 1967. Nadia has just completed Year 12 at Pascoe Vale Girls Secondary College in Melbourne.
“We are from Lebanon, near Beirut, and we have been through the same thing as the Palestinians,” Nadia said. “What is happening in Gaza is exactly what has happened in Lebanon. That is why we have come today. The Palestinians should be free just like anyone else. I think that the Israelis want to take over the Palestinians’ land and do whatever they want.
“It is not right what the Australian government here is saying—killing innocent people is not right. Little children are dying. This is really wrong. The media is not showing what is going on. They only show something for about two seconds and then go on to something else. We are not getting the real story.”
Basil Kaser, who migrated from southern Lebanon and remembers living as a young boy under the threat of Israeli air strikes and incursions, spoke with the WSWS in Sydney. He carried a placard accusing the political leaders of Israel, the US and Egypt of being terrorists.
“Innocent people are being killed without any justification. They use the excuses of rockets, but at the end of the day it is genocide. They [the Israeli government] have sanctions on Gaza and the whole world knows about it. Shame on every leader around the world that medicines and food can’t get in to these people and shame on everybody for letting this happen. If you back someone into a corner, they’re going to fight back. If that is all the Gaza people are guilty of, then I don’t think they’re guilty of anything at all.
Basil rejected the “self-defence” claims made by Israel: “They are destroying homes, facilities, police stations, infrastructure and thousands have been killed and wounded. Gaza is a poor, densely-populated area. This isn’t self-defence, it is genocide. What the Jewish people were running away from Hitler they are now doing against other people.”
Asked about his placard, Basil said: “Everyone who is in a position of power and does nothing about this is a terrorist. The most I can do is raise my voice in protest. But these people—Mubarak, Bush—they have the power to stop this and they’re not doing it.”
Basil agreed when asked whether he thought there was a relationship between Israel’s aggression and the US occupation of Iraq.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Those in power have plans that we don’t know about. It is not the people in America who are to blame. It’s the government. If the people knew what was going on they wouldn’t support it. The same goes for a lot of the people in Israel. It is the governments that are doing this. They are blinding the people and not letting them see the truth, because if they could, they would end this immediately.”
Mohammed Selah, a student at University of Technology Sydney, said he was protesting against “the massacre of the Palestinian people, my people, in Gaza”.
He condemned the position of the governments in the Middle East: “The Arab League is talking about a proposed summit taking place after one or two weeks of killing has gone on. That is not a solution. They must get together and do something. Are they going to wait for 1,000 or 2,000 people to die? Are those being killed not human beings?
“Obama is talking about the centrality of the Israeli state for him so I don’t think he will change things. But maybe I am wrong? He is the president-elect and might have something to say later, but at the moment, he is washing his hands of it.”
Ali, who migrated to Australia 40 years ago from Lebanon, also spoke with WSWS in Sydney.
“For sixty years, Israel has been killing in the name of self-defence. This has been happening since the 1940s. How can you compare some home-made rockets with jets and tanks and so-called ‘smart-bombs’? We know what happened in 2006 in Lebanon and the things we saw then we are seeing now. Israel’s history is massacres and more massacres.
“The Arab regimes are connected to Israel. Where Israel goes, they go. There is no difference between Arial Sharon [former Israeli prime minister] and Hosni Mubarak, no difference between Ehud Barak [Israeli foreign minister] and Egypt’s foreign minister. They all discuss what they are going to do together. It’s a pact with America.”
The American establishment, he said, “has had the same policy for the Middle East for the last 50 to 100 years. They want the resources. They want the people to live like dogs with no trade, no freedom and no independence.”
Asked about the position of the Labor government, Ali said: “All governments have no feeling toward the people. I am disappointed though that Labor, who I have kept voting for, is what it is. I’ll never vote Labor again.”
Tel Aviv rally decries Gaza assault
By Rachel Shabi in Tel Aviv
Israel’s left-wing residents gather to add their voice against the assault on Gaza [AFP]
Amid cries of “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies!” and banners reading, “Enough!” thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to protest against the country’s war on Gaza.
Latest news and analysis from Gaza and Israel Protesters called for an immediate end to the Israeli attacks, in which more than 450 Palestinians have been killed and around 2,100 injured since air assaults on Gaza began last Saturday.Organisers, a coalition of groups such as Gush Shalom, the Hadash party and the Coalition of Women for Peace, were encouraged by the turnout.
“We have experience from the last war, in Lebanon, and this time the public outcry is much quicker and much bigger,” said veteran Gush Shalom campaigner Uri Avnery.
“It is a cynical war, for political reasons and people are very much aware of that.”
Palestinian-Israelis who demonstrated alongside Jewish co-nationalists waved the Palestinian flag, as police attempt to ban such a practice before the protest was overruled by the Israeli high court.
Earlier on Saturday, about 10,000 demonstrators, predominantly Palestinian-Israelis, protested in the northern Galilee village of Sakhnin.
Many of the demonstrators expressed a desire show another side of the Israeli equation amid overwhelming public support for the current attacks.
“There are people who think differently,” said 24-year-old Iya Michlin, from Tel Aviv.
“It is important that the world, and especially the Arab world, sees that.”
Others were clear in their requirements from the Israeli government.
“I want them to start talking,” said Raquel Mendelson, 65, from the central Israeli town, Rehovot.
“You can’t continue to believe that you can fight attacks with more attacks. It’s time to talk, not to die – not here and not there.”
Balance sought
Some demonstrators were critical of the Hamas government in Gaza, but argued for a sense of balance.
“It is pathetic that Hamas provoked Israel,” said Ada Bilu, 46, from Jerusalem.
“But there is no proportion and no equality in the power relations, of what Israelis can do and what Palestinians can do. Gaza is a terrible place to live and Israel has a lot more responsibility for that than it would like to take.”
A group of counter-demonstrators also attended the event and were cordoned off from the main demonstrations by police on numerous occasions.
The event sporadically turned into a contest of slogans, as counter-demonstrators shouted “Shame on you!” and “Let the Israeli army win!” while anti-war protesters responding with “The army is a terror organisation!” and “Children in Gaza and in Sderot want to live!”
Such demonstrations by the Israeli left-wing are typically dismissed as unrepresentative within Israeli society. According to a poll commissioned by Haaretz newspaper days ago, 53 per cent of Israelis believe that the air force should continue its assaults on Gaza, and only 19 per cent thought the government should negotiate a ceasefire as soon as possible.
Israeli police arrest a demonstrator [AFP]
The poll also showed low support – 19 per cent – for a ground invasion of Gaza.
Analysts suggest that this figure reflects public sentiment about the defence forces, which are more at risk in ground attacks.
“The value of a soldier’s life is perceived as worth more than a civilian,” says professor Tamara Hermann, co-author of a monthly peace poll monitoring Israeli public opinion.
“There is an understanding in the public discourse that Israeli soldiers are all our children – that is why they are so dear to us.”
But it is concern over residents in southern Israel, 700,000 of whom are now within range of rocket attacks from Gaza, that has kept some left-wing groups silent over the current Israeli assaults on the strip.
“There is a lot of solidarity and empathy with the people in Gaza and all the talk is of Israeli action being disproportionate,” says Yael Patir, Israeli co-ordinator of the Peace NGO forum, a Palestinian-Israeli affiliation group established to campaign against the current war.
“But there have been internal arguments inside our camp, because some say that, if Qassams [rockets] are falling on residents in the south, we can’t claim that Israel shouldn’t attack Hamas at any price.
Israelis don’t want to see other Israelis bombarded by Hamas and this is causing a serious dilemma.”
Thousands in Lebanon, Turkey protest Gaza attack
By BASSEM MROUE
January 5 2009
Lebanese youths from leftist groups protesting Israel’s ground attack on the Gaza Strip, react as police forces use water hoses to stop them from arriving to the U.S. Embassy in the northern suburb of Aukar, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009. Lebanese security officials say police forces have fired tear gas at scores of demonstrators who tried to reach the U.S. Embassy compound north of Beirut. (AP Photo/Ahmad Omar)
Lebanese youth from leftist groups protesting Israel’s ground attack on the Gaza Strip, react as police forces use water hoses to stop them from arriving to the U.S. Embassy in the northern suburb of Aukar, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009. Lebanese security officials say police forces have fired tear gas at scores of demonstrators who tried to reach the U.S. Embassy compound north of Beirut. (AP Photo/Ahmad Omar)
Turkish demonstrators, with a placard in the center that reads: “Hurry up for Palestine! Tomorrow might be too late…..” chant Islamic slogans as they burn a makeshift Israeli flag in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009, during a protest against Israel. More than 5,000 people held an anti-Israel rally in Istanbul, waving Palestinian flags and burning effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President George W. Bush. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)
Jordanian demonstrators shouts anti- Israeli slogans during a rally protesting the Israeli attacks in Gaza, in Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2008. Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, cutting the coastal territory into two and surrounding its biggest city. (AP Photo/Nader Daoud)
A man brandishes a Palestinian flag as he shouts anti-Israeli slogans to protest the ongoing Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip, at the Mohammed V avenue in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday Jan. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)
Protesters wave Palestinian flag during a demonstration against the ongoing Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip, at the Mohammed V avenue in Rabat, Sunday Jan. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)
Protesters hold a placard reading “No to worldwide silence” during a demonstration against the ongoing Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip, at the Mohammed V avenue in Rabat, Sunday Jan. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)
Protesters hold a Palestinian flag during a demonstration against ongoing Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip, on Mohammed V avenue in Rabat, Sunday Jan. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Thousands protesting Israel’s ground offensive on Gaza converged Sunday in Beirut and Istanbul as the leaders of the only two Mideast Arab nations to sign peace treaties with Israel demanded an end to the attack.
In Yemen, security officials said anti-Israel protesters attacked several Jewish homes in the northern province of Omran, smashing windows and pelting them with rocks. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said at least one Jewish resident was injured among the tiny minority community.
Lebanese police used water hoses to try to push about 250 demonstrators away from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon’s capital. When that failed, they fired tear gas, Lebanese security officials said. A second Beirut protest — a sit-in outside the U.N. building — drew thousands of supporters of Hamas and Lebanon’s Islamic Group.
In Turkey, more than 5,000 people held an anti-Israel rally in Istanbul, waving Palestinian flags and burning effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President George W. Bush. Also in Istanbul, club-wielding police broke up a small demonstration by protesters who hurled eggs at the Israeli Consulate, the private Dogan news agency reported. There were no reports of arrests or injuries.
In Morocco, tens of thousands gathered in the capital Rabat for a peaceful march to protest the Gaza offensive. Police estimated the turnout at 50,000, according to the official MAP news agency. Organizers said the number was bigger, but did not give a precise figure.
Israel’s weeklong aerial bombardment of Gaza and the start of the ground offensive Saturday against Hamas have drawn condemnation across the Muslim and Arab world and news coverage of the invasion has dominated Arab satellite television stations.
Thousands in cities from Tehran to Damascus have also taken to the streets to protest the attacks, which have killed about 500 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,600, according to Gaza officials.
In some cases, the protests of the past week were as directed against Arab governments as much as Israel, with many criticizing their perceived inaction or lack of sufficient support of the Palestinians.
On Sunday, the leaders of Egypt and Jordan — the only two Mideast Arab countries to sign a peace agreement with Israel and maintain diplomatic ties — condemned the ground offensive and called for an end to Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.
Several hundred Jordanians shouting “death to Israel” protested against the Gaza offensive Sunday in two separate demonstrations in central Amman, the Jordanian capital. The protests were peaceful and police made no arrests.
In parliament, the Jordanian government came under criticism from Islamic opposition lawmakers demanding that it suspend relations with Israel.
“All options are available to assess the relationship with every side, especially Israel,” Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi told parliament during a heated debate.
“We will reconsider relations according to our higher national interests,” he said. “We will not remain silent about the situation and the serious deterioration in Gaza and neither about the threat which risks the security of the whole area and its stability.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who runs his own Palestinian administration from the West Bank, also denounced Israel’s ground offensive as “brutal aggression” in his harshest words yet in describing Israel’s assault on his Hamas rivals.
Israel says the aim of the operation is to stop the Palestinian militant Hamas group from firing rockets at southern Israeli towns. Hamas is opposed to any peace settlement with Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
“This battle will end a (peace) settlement forever,” Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, told the protesters at the sit-in. “This battle will show who are the men.”
Five civilians and one policeman were lightly injured in the clash outside the U.S. Embassy earlier in the day, according to the Lebanese officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, discussed the situation in Gaza with visiting chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, the group’s Al-Manar TV said.
Al-Manar did not give further details but said Nasrallah and Jalili, who arrived here Saturday from neighboring Syria, discussed “ways of ending this aggression.”
Hezbollah, which is a strong ally of Hamas, possesses a formidable arsenal of rockets and missiles that bloodied Israel during a monthlong war in 2006. Hezbollah has not threatened to join Hamas in its current battle with Israel, but Nasrallah said last week that his men are on alert in case Israel attacks Lebanon.
___
Associated Press reporters Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, and Ahmed Al-Haj in San’a, Yemen, contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS SUBS lede to correct that Turkish demonstrations were in Istanbul sted Turkish capital. AP Video.)
I found this one in my wanderings as well.
Iranian Jews protest Gaza ‘slaughter’
December 31 2008
Different groups representing Iran’s Jewish Community on Tuesday gathered in front of the United Nations office in Teheran in order to protest “Israel war crimes and the slaughter of the innocent people in Gaza Strip,” the Iranian IRNA news agency reported.
Iranian Jewish school girls and their Muslim teacher attend an anti-Israel demonstration to condemn Israel over air attacks on the Gaza Strip in front of the UN offices in Teheran, on Tuesday.
Photo: AP
The protesters, led by the Jewish representative in Parliament, Siamak Mara-Sedq, carried placards with anti-Israel slogans in both Farsi and Hebrew, the report said.
“We are here to express our support and sympathy with the Palestinian nation,” Rahmatollah Rafi, the chairman of Iran’s Jewish community was quoted as saying at the rally.
Hinting mainly at Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the report said that Rafi went on to criticize “certain Arab governments for their inaction and silence towards Israeli inhuman acts and war crimes in Gaza and the entire Palestinian territories.”
Separately, IRNA reported that in a Tuesday speech to the Iranian parliament Mara-Sedq “expressed shock” over the “savage acts” perpetrated by “the Tel Aviv regime.”
The report said that the Jewish MP “expressed hope that all the peace-loving nations and the true advocates of human rights would thoroughly support the defenseless Palestinian people and make Israel stop the genocide in the region by exerting pressure on Tel Aviv.”
He also reportedly gave voice to the “hatred” the Iranian Jewish Community harbors towards “the Israeli crimes.”
According to the report, Mara-Sedq’s remarks elicited a chorus of anti-Israel and anti-US slogans from members of parliament.
Iranian Jewish leaders are often quoted as having given voice to extreme anti-Israel views, but it is unclear whether these opinions are imposed upon them by the regime.
Some 25,000 Jews live in Iran.
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Saturday Jan 3 Reports:Canadian Protesters march in support of Palestinians
SaturdayReports on: Demonstrations Against Israels attacks on Gaza, January 3, 2009
Friday Jan 2 Reports:Muslims around the world protest Gaza assault
December Reports
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