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| Japanese
activists carry a mock coffin in a "funeral"
procession around the Israeli embassy in Tokyo in support of the
Palestinians. |
TOKYO,
March 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Peace activists began a
round-the-clock "funeral procession" at the Israeli
embassy in Tokyo Thursday, calling for the Israeli army's immediate
withdrawal from Palestinian areas, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
The
Japan-based Peace Boat human rights group vowed to maintain its
demonstration 24 hours a day until the Israeli occupation army pulls
out.
"We
have many friends in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem, and their lives
are in peril even at this exact moment," Peace Boat campaigner
Tatsuya Yoshioka said as the protest got under way.
"Let's
start here at the Israeli embassy in Tokyo even though we don't know
if this voice will reach [Israeli] Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
others responsible for the military strikes," he said. "We
will continue 24 hours until the military action ends."
Peace
Boat plans to rotate its members to continue the walk around the
embassy indefinitely.
The
protest started with 20 silent participants circling the city block
where the Israeli mission stands.
They
were carrying a mock coffin covered with a black cloth and a sign
protesting the murder of more than 1, 150 Palestinians in 17 months.
Peace
Boat said the sign would be constantly updated with the latest death
toll.
The
death toll actually made it Thursday to 1,526, including 1,178
Palestinians, mostly teenagers and children, and 343
Israelis.
Other
activists were carrying a blow-up picture of a boy kissing the
blood-smeared head of a woman and of children killed in Gaza.
No
immediate comment was available from the Israeli embassy.
Rallies
condemning Israeli aggressive practices against Palestinian
civilians have rocked world capitals since the Israeli army launched
deadly full scale operations against Palestinian refugee camps.
In
France, hundreds of people gathered in central Paris Thursday, March
7, in a demonstration called by left-wing political rights groups in
support of the Palestinians.
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| Japanese
demonstrators demanded the immediate withdrawal of the
Israeli occupation army from Palestinian territories. |
Carrying
banners bearing slogans such as "Stop the massacre in
Palestine", the crowd listened to speakers demand the
dismantling of Jewish settlements and the dispatch of an
international peacekeeping force to the Middle East.
On
the same day, in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, some 1,000
Israeli Arabs marched through the city center to protest deadly
Israeli incursions in the Palestinian territories.
Protestors,
mainly from the Arab Israeli Hadash party, carried signs saying:
"The occupation is the terrorist," and "The
government is murderous."
Within
the same context, African leaders, attending a Community of
Sahel-Saharan States (COMESSA) summit last week in Syrte, Libya,
condemned Israel's "state terrorism" and pledged their
support for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
The
summit, in a final statement, said COMESSA "firmly condemns
Israel's state terrorism and calls on the international community to
take immediate measures to exert pressure on the occupation force
and lift the blockade imposed on President Arafat."
Russia
last week also condemned Israeli violence against Palestinians,
saying it was fast and presented "a very dangerous
scenario".
Even
the United States, Israel’s closest alley, criticized the Israeli
army practices against the Palestinians, with U.S. President George
W. Bush describing them Thursday, March 14, as “not helpful”.
