Peace activists vow to remain with Arafat until siege over

Ha'aretz ^ | 4/01/02 | Amira Hass,

[kattracks]

Western peace activists holed up with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said Monday that they have vowed to remain with the besieged Palestinian leader in his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah until Israel withdraws its troops.

Arafat has been confined to two rooms of the three-story office building since Friday, when IDF troops took over the compound.

Peace activist Claude Leostic also told Al Jazeera television station Monday that there was "quiet in Arafat's office, which is encircled by eight [IDF] tanks."

Leostic said that the IDF troops tried Monday morning to approach the entrance to the building, but that ultimately no one entered.

Seven foreign peace activists and a Palestinian television cameraman were wounded Monday when an IDF soldier fired at the ground in front of them, officials and witnesses said.

About 100 Palestinian and foreigner demonstrators marched through the center of the West Bank town of Beit Jala behind a sign saying "We want peace not war," witnesses said.

As they approached an IDF armored personnel carrier, an IDF soldier in the carrier fired several shots from a rifle into the street in front of them, sending up chips of concrete, television footage showed.

Health officials said a Palestinian and seven foreigners were hurt. They included two Americans, two Britons, and one each from Australia, Japan and France.

The Palestinian, who was wounded in the leg, was a cameraman covering the march for the Associated Press, colleagues said.

The director of Beit Jala hospital, Peter Qumri, said one woman was undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel from her abdomen and was in a satisfactory condition.

The army said earlier Monday that troops had stopped 50 foreigners, mostly Italians, from entering Ramallah, where they had planned to join others who reached Arafat's office Sunday.

Israel police said the army had handed over 10 French nationals to their custody pending their expulsion from Israel.

[snake]

This time I must agree with the peace activists: the real victims are the Palestinians ,who, with no military organization are being attacked by a well organized Israeli military with the backing of the most powerful nation in the world. Sharon, with the complicity of the United States is continuing the catalog of atrocities he began in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps. When they elected him the Israeli's knew this man and his goals, as well as the fact that he is the one choseen by the Jewish Fundamentalists who want nothing short of the rebuilding of Solomon's Temple. As a nation the United States should be ashamed of its commitment to this lunatic.

[doc]

Regardless of these unarmed activists political ideology, how does one justify shooting at them?

[xzins]

I would use one of those new "single person" smart bombs. They're designed to target just one guy, but the sender can't be responsible for collateral damage. (heh heh heh)

[silver fox two]

I swear I saw those same 4 people here in Philly demonstrating at the Republican National Convention in 2000. ........Or is it because they all look alike?

[randog]

...one woman was undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel from her abdomen and was in a satisfactory condition.

I've heard that stomach wounds are the most painful. I hope it hurts.

[Logophile]

Peace activist receives treatment at a hospital after being injured when Israeli soldiers opened fired at a demonstration of international peace activists in the West Bank town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, April 1, 2002.

"Opened fired"? Did Reuters really write this?

Five foreign peace marchers and a Palestinian television cameraman were injured by shrapnel when Israeli soldiers fired at their feet, witnesses said.

Did the soldiers shoot the demonstrators, or did they shoot warning shots at the ground? And what were they using that produces "shrapnel"?

Firing started when about 100 demonstrators, including Palestinians and foreigners, marched near a church carrying a sign saying "We want peace not war," they said. REUTERS/Magnus Johansson

I want peace too, but I doubt peace is to be achieved by licking the boots of a thug like Arafat.

[Logophile]

This time I must agree with the peace activists: the real victims are the Palestinians ,who, with no military organization are being attacked by a well organized Israeli military with the backing of the most powerful nation in the world. Sharon, with the complicity of the United States is continuing the catalog of atrocities he began in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps. When they elected him the Israeli's knew this man and his goals, as well as the fact that he is the one choseen by the Jewish Fundamentalists who want nothing short of the rebuilding of Solomon's Temple. As a nation the United States should be ashamed of its commitment to this lunatic.

If the Palestinians are victims, their victimizers are neither the Israelis nor the Americans, but their Arab brethren. In fact, Arafat and his band of terrorists are the worst victimizers of all.

[My2Cents]

Has anyone figured out exactly why it is that "peace activists" consistently end up on the wrong side of history? They wanted to accommodate Hitler; they sided with Stalin; they sided with Castro and Che; they supported the North Vietnamese and Vietcong; they urged "sanctions" against Saddam; they opposed going after the Taliban; now they coddle Arafat.

I think it's more evidence that being a leftist causes brain damage.

[My2Cents]

I question that the gal in the white tee is actually a peace activitist....She's relatively good looking.

[estrogen]

I heard somewhere that a first grade teacher from Brooklyn was going to Palestine to be a "human shield" ....we shouldn't let him back in.

[Salman]

What a disgusting low-life this woman is, not worthy of being called a "mother". Any woman who would bring her own infant child into a declared "war zone" is beneath comtempt.

Is there actually an infant in that stroller? It's hard to tell from the picture.

Could it be that these "peace" activists consider their own children expendable, just like "Palestinians" do?

[pgkdan]

Gee, what an appropriate screen name.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Has anyone figured out exactly why it is that "peace activists" consistently end up on the wrong side of history? They wanted to accommodate Hitler; they sided with Stalin; they sided with Castro and Che; they supported the North Vietnamese and Vietcong; they urged "sanctions" against Saddam; they opposed going after the Taliban; now they coddle Arafat.

This is a great question... I would like to take a stab at it. The first step among the totalitarians and those who side with them, is to call things what they are not. Many examples abound, "Workers Paradise", "Jewish Question", "Ministry of information", "People's Republic", and the list goes on and on. If you side with the communists, or the nazis, or the islamists (as Reuters and these leftist fringe organizations obviously do) you adopt their tactics, and this is one of the best. Orwell had it right, with his "Ministry of Truth".

If you really analyze the words, a PEACE ACTIVIST to me would be a soldier who fought with the good guys in WWII, or in the current war in Afghanistan, or with the IDF. Certainly they are activists, of that there is no doubt, and certainly the overall goal is peace, a just and lasting peace.

If you look at these examples of human debris they are neither for peace, nor are they activists in the sense cited above. They are peace activists in the same way that the Soviet Union was for equality, or Hitler's Germany were victims, or the islamic religion is a religion of peace.

This is all about calling a thing by words that are at variance with its true nature.

My $.02

[Cachelot]

Here since 2000 and one post to your credit, snake?

Mmmmm... you remind me of someone, funnily enough. Boltie? Is that you in backup drag?

Welcome to the machine, #346.

[My2Cents]

Good point: the "activists" are the ones who are duped by the leftist/totalitarian propoganda -- they actually BELIEVE the twisted words that come out of the mouths of people like Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Castro, and Arafat. No matter that guys like Arafat are up to their eyeballs in weapons...they still want "peace."

One word you forgot in the totalitarians' lexicon: "re-education."

[Ben Chad]

Got to be one smelly office.

[foreshadowed at waco]

When I think of the Palestinians I have very mixed feelings. They have been the bargaining chips in the equation for years...used by the PLO and other Arab nations as the excuse to try to eliminate Israel...on the other hand the Israelis keep changing their approach to the situation instead of hanging tough...but the bottom line for me is the brainwashing suicide cult system that the Palestinian people have allowed their leaders to impose on their children...to send kids to school so that they can be taught to hate and eventually turned into human bombs is not my idea of responsible parenting...then they take money for their 'loss'...I'd give my life for my daughter and I'd never accept money from the people who turned her suicidal...I'd kill them first...maybe it's just those strange Western values that the Muslims keep telling us are so evil...we would die for our kids...they send their kids out to die and accept blood money...almost the same difference between Christianity and Islam...God sent his Son to die for us...Allah asks his followers to kill for him.

[Bulldog1967]

Perferate them.