Posted on 03/30/2002 2:19:11 PM PST by kattracks
NEW YORK, Mar 30, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Steve Quester is spending his spring break in the West Bank.
Quester, a public school teacher, is joining about 20 other American activists who are traveling to the Palestinian territories to act as human shields for Palestinians as the Israeli military mounts retaliatory strikes for a series of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
"We're going to put ourselves in the way between Israeli military aggression and a helpless civilian population," said Quester, 39, who departs Sunday for a ten-day trip. He and other activists, several of whom are already in the Mideast, plan to stay in Bethlehem, Nablus and Gaza.
The group, which includes Jewish and Palestinian Americans, hopes to engage in various nonviolent protests and activities "to stop the madness that's going on there," said Quester, who teaches first grade in the New York borough of Brooklyn.
Their goals include removing Israeli roadblocks around Palestinian towns, observing Israeli-controlled checkpoints, helping rebuild demolished Palestinians homes and accompanying Palestinians on protest marches, he said.
The activists are part of a growing contingent of foreigners, mostly from Europe, who are in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to protest the Israeli occupation and recent military action. On Thursday, about 600 activists arrived in Ramallah, where Israeli tanks have surrounded the offices of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat since Friday.
The U.S. activists are working in cooperation with a Palestinian-led coalition called International Solidarity Movement that has appealed to foreigners to bring attention to conditions under the Israeli occupation. This is the third time that Americans have made trips to the Mideast in conjunction with the coalition, most recently in December.
An American member of this coalition, Adam Shapiro, and an Irish woman, Caoimhe Butterly, spent Friday night inside Arafat's Ramallah compound. Shapiro left the offices Saturday, but Butterly decided to stay because she has medical training.
The Israeli siege is part of a major military offensive launched after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 22 Passover diners on Wednesday.
Quester, who has lived in Israel for three years and speaks fluent Hebrew and "shaky" Arabic, says his "heart breaks for everyone killed in the violence."
He believes the suicide bombers are "desperate and hopeless" and that that ultimately "all the heartbreak flows directly from Israel's policy" of occupying the Palestinian territories.
He hopes his trip will boost the morale of Palestinians "by seeing more internationals standing shoulder to shoulder with them."
"I'm a Jew," Quester said. "The Israeli army and government are perpetrating a great evil on the people of Palestine, and they're doing so in my name. I can't let this stand."
Also, as an American, Quester said he opposes the financial and military aid that the United States provides Israel, which in his opinion perpetuates the violence.
Israel receives more than dlrs 3 billion a year in civilian and military aid from the United States.
"We U.S. citizens have a special responsibility to stop the madness that's going on there," he said.
By MALCOLM FOSTER Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Adam Shapiro, "American": Lives in Ramallah with Palestinian wife. Writes occasionally for the Palestine Monitor and IndyMedia.Steve Quester, HIV-positive homosexual, 1st grade teacher in Brooklyn. Kept his class in school that day and told all the kids that people had survived the World Trade Center attack. Member of Jews Against the Occupation.
Caoimhe Butterly, Chiapas correspondant for the IRA newspaper An Phoblacht/Republican News
You will never read or hear this description of the above mentioned individuals in any lying, liberal publication.
Magnificent Post Seamole.
Yes!! If the whole Koran Korner Klan goes.
Observing (as opposed to "knowing") the erstwhile Reverend, I think he'll just send his [former] mistress.
Which one?
I expected the Onion or BSN.
The definition of a target rich environment keeps changing.
5.56mm
Do these people read and watch the news? What planet do they live on?
Back in '45, this guy would be unthinkable. I hope the Sabra shoot him, like the dog he is, before he costs innocent Jews their lives. He is a conmbatant, but like the terrorists he supports, who kill, while demanding human rights, he refuses to admit to what he is up to.
ROR - Rots of Ruck.I suplise you speak my ranguage.
He hopes his trip will boost the morale of Palestinians "by seeing more internationals standing shoulder to shoulder with them."
"Boosting the morale of the Palestinians" is what Jane Fonda did for the NVA.
If Steve is an "international" then take his passport.
It's clear he expects to do more than stand "shoulder to shoulder with them."
Steve hates himself, his religion, and wants to die.
He's going to strap on God's own millstone and free a lot of American children from his perversions.
You go, Steve--give Yassir something to relieve us of the two of you.
Lot of possibilities for messing with their heads. The Democrat coalition is beyond belief. 80% of Jews vote Democrat but they hate the 91% of blacks who vote Democrat who are not fond of the 70% of gays who vote Democrat. And then you have the white hippy dippy anarchists/commie trash who vote Democrat, love blacks and hate Jews but sometimes are Jewish (Chomsky for instance).The right disinformation should make the ungodly edifice come crashing down. Then we call sell them assault rifles to finish the job and each other off.
Idiot. It won't be the Israelis who shoot him dead.
I didn't know he had other "issues".
Total gross-out.
The PA has used kids from the start, they murdered Mohammed Dura on live tv, to get the pictures. This call is from December 2000, have they said anything since?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.