|
Young Israelis Dance in Protest Against Occupation of Palestinian Territories
 |
|
"The hope is
that more and more people might … realize there's more to life
than killing and fighting," one protestor said.
|
TEL
AVIV, May 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In a fresh twist for
Israel's peace movement, thousands of young people put on their
dancing trainers in Tel Aviv Thursday night to protest against the
occupation of Palestinian territories.
The
dance party at the plaza of the city's art museum drew more than 3,000
people, mostly over-twenty who want a peace between Israel and the
Palestinians, but find the usual slogan-shouting protests too boring,
organizers told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"For
many people in Israel, having a left-wing agenda is really not cool.
It's supposedly one of the most naive things people can think,"
said one of the protestors, 25-year-old Aviad.
Like
many of the others dancing around him, the musician said he had
refused to serve in the army because of the military occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, which has sparked the 20-month Palestinian
Intifada.
"There's
nothing strange here except there's a war going on a few kilometers
away from here," he told AFP.
The
protestors danced for several hours to thumping techno music played
from a DJ booth on a stage beside two large video screens which showed
spliced images of the occupation and violent children's cartoons.
Many
wore the outlandish or revealing outfits which have become standard at
raves around the world. Several protestors dressed in mock army
uniforms walked on stilts and fired water pistols at the sweating
dancers.
A
macabre "Miss Israel" paraded through the crowd with a
"bouquet" of flowers, a plastic gun and a stump of a
mannequin's leg painted with fake blood, said AFP.
Miss
Israel, Yamit Har-Noy, wore a controversial dress in the National
Costume show for Miss Universe delegates at Bellas Artes in San Juan,
Puerto Rico Tuesday, May 21, showing a map of Israel on the front and
the Israeli flag in the back, in a flagrant rejection of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip as the territories of a future Palestinian state.
Har-Noy’s
dress, which ran counter to U.S. President George W. Bush’s demand
for a Palestinian state and came as a disappointment for the young
Israeli peace protestors, reflected the hardline Likud Party’s
Central Committee’s rejection of establishing a Palestinian state in
the re-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
About
halfway into the protest in Tel Aviv, a minute of silence was held in
memory of the more than 2,000 people, the overwhelming majority
Palestinians, who were killed since the outbreak of the second
Intifada.
"Young
people are fed up with politics. This experiment was trying to bring
politics [into their lives] through the back door," said Dima, a
30-year-old graduate student.
"The
rave idea brought many people here today who are not identified with
activism, to bring in clubbers and ecstasy eaters," he said.
Scores
of police were deployed in the area to protect demonstrators from
attacks by Jewish extremists, said AFP.
 |
| Protestors
wore mock army uniforms, saying they refused to serve in the
army because of the military occupation of the West Bank and
Gaza.
|
Both
the organizers and protestors also said they hoped the protest would
add momentum to the peace movement, which had been flagging after a
wave of deadly Israeli offensives in the Palestinian territories and
an ensuing wave of Palestinian martyr bombings.
Left-wing
groups made a strong comeback earlier this month after the occupation
army's Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank which marked its
largest military offensive since the 1967 war.
More
than 60,000 demonstrators turned out in Tel Aviv earlier this month
for the largest peace rally to protest Israeli the deadly Israeli
offensives against Palestinians in the West Bank and the massacre of
the Jenin refugee camp.
"Israel
has many people who are involved [in the peace movement], but as more
time passes they become apathetic. You go to protests and it's very
serious and heavy and maybe this is a chance to bring a little light
into it," said Andrew Lanezos, a 29-year-old doctoral student in
anthropology.
"The
hope is that more and more people might join parties and realize
there's more to life than killing and fighting," he said.
Kindly
refer to Related Link to view ‘The Jews Against the Occupation’
petition to the Israeli government and international public opinion.
|
