ISRAEL: Protest march on the 40th anniversary of the occupation of Palestinian territories

Record ID: 396781

  • Title: ISRAEL: Protest march on the 40th anniversary of the occupation of Palestinian territories
  • Date: 10th June 2007
  • Summary: (BN14) TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (JUNE 9, 2007) (REUTERS) HUNDREDS OF ISRAELIS, PALESTINIAN AND FOREIGN PEACE ACTIVISTS GATHERING AHEAD OF A MARCH MARKING 40 YEARS OF ISRAELI OCCUPATION VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGNS MAN HOLDING SIGN READING 'THE ARMY'S SUPPORT OF THE CRIMINAL SETTLERS - EVIL, STUPIDITY, CRIME! SHAME' (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. DALIT BAUM, A TEL AVIV RESIDENT,
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: International Relations,History
  • Reuters ID: LVA22XTMPSEPBWVS5LTV500Q714W
  • Story Text: Several hundred Israelis, Palestinians and foreign peace activists took to streets of the coastal city of Tel Aviv on Saturday (June 9), to mark the 40th anniversary of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.
    Men and women held signs calling for the end of the Israeli occupation, such as 'Ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank', and '40 occupation, this is a stain you can not remove'.
    After gathering at Rabin square in Tel Aviv, protesters marched through the city's main streets towards one of its museums, where speeches were scheduled.
    Attending the rally were various Israeli left-wing organisations and human rights organisations along with Palestinians and foreign peace activists.
    "We have organised here a very very wide coalition of organisations from all different spectrums of Israeli political left, and we are going to march in Tel Aviv in order to remind people that this is forty years to the 67' war and the occupation of the territories in the West Bank and Gaza and the Golan Heights, and we are thinking that we need to walk around town -- this very quiet, very very content city -- and remind people that the occupation goes on and it needs to stop," said Dr. Dalit Baum, a Tel Aviv resident.
    "I'm here for... I want peace for my people and freedom for the Palestinian people," said Na'eem, a Palestinian from the West Bank.
    "I'm trying to support the processes of peace that are taking place here, the work that's already began and the work that's continuing and I'm representing a lot of Americans back home who feel the same way and couldn't be here," added Ben, a student from Canada.
    The war Israel launched on June 5, 1967 became widely known as the Six Day War. It ended with stunning reverses for the Arab allies and Israel seizing the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria and the Gaza Strip and Sinai peninsula from Egypt.
    While Israel left the Sinai peninsula as part of a peace agreement with Egypt, and withdrew its soldiers and settlers from the Gaza Strip in a unilateral bid to lower violence in 2005, the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remained under Israeli occupation.
    Some 400 Israeli settlers live there in heavily guarded enclaves across the West Bank and the attempt to expand their presence was likely to stoke tensions in the city, where 150,000 Palestinians reside.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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