Sabbah Report » Protest

Peaceful protest in Israel can lead to arrest

Mazin Qumsiyeh — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:33:33 +0000

By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

THIS week, when I return to my village in the occupied West Bank, I face possible arrest by Israel for engaging in nonviolent protests against abusive Israeli policies opposed by our own government.

This prospect is difficult after 29 years of living in the United States, where such activities are fully protected. It was this openness that attracted me to the U.S. I became a proud citizen and pursued work not only in my profession but also as a human rights advocate.

Over the years, I gave hundreds of talks and participated in many vigils and protests, mostly against the war on Iraq and for justice and equality in Israel/Palestine. The activities always involved people of all backgrounds.

When I moved back to Palestine in early 2008, I continued to engage in these activities. I teach and have helped to establish a master’s program in biotechnology at Bethlehem University. I also pursue my passion of educating others on human rights and engaging in civil resistance through protests and vigils.

On March 1, shortly after I left my village near Bethlehem for a visit home to the United States, the Israeli army invaded the neighborhood and surrounded our house at 1:30 a.m. My mother, sister and wife, terrorized for no reason, told the military I was out of the country but would be “happy” to talk to them upon my return.

The soldiers delivered a note demanding my appearance in a military compound five days later — a date I have missed because my ticket was scheduled for a few days later. I thus face the likelihood of arrest, administrative detention or worse when I go back.

My story is just a minor manifestation of a disturbing pattern. As civil resistance against Israel’s West Bank apartheid wall and settlement activities have increased, there has been an escalation of Israeli repression of nonviolent protesters.

Nonviolent resistance to colonization and occupation are consistent with international law and U.S. policies. President Barack Obama has stated that settlement activities in the occupied territories must stop as a prelude to ending the occupation that started in 1967. Yet, Israeli authorities continue settlement activities apace, while intensifying attacks against peaceful vigils and protests against this indefensible behavior.

Obama also gave clear encouragement to nonviolent Palestinian demonstrators in his Cairo speech, yet has remained silent as nonviolent demonstrators have been seized in recent weeks by the Israeli military.

Bethlehem has suffered significantly because of Israeli actions. The district is squeezed now by illegal Israeli settlements and military installations on three sides. Bethlehem’s 130,00 residents have access to only 20 percent of the original land of the district. The settlers, protected by the Israeli military, now want to build a settlement in the only remaining open side of Bethlehem — to the east in an area called Ush Ghrab.

The people of my village, Beit Sahour, are known for a history of nonviolent resistance, including a tax revolt in 1988 against the Israeli military government. We are a town with limited resources, comprised of 70 percent Christians and 30 percent Muslims, but have a highly educated middle class with more than 300 holders of doctorates among the population of 12,000.

Having lost so much land, and being well-informed and connected to the outside world, we decided to nonviolently resist the additional Israeli encroachment on our town. The Israeli response relied on brute force. Our first prayer vigil was attacked while a Lutheran priest was leading us in prayer.

As a member of the committee that organized the vigil and another peaceful event a week later, I was targeted. An Israeli officer warned me not to participate and threatened me, noting he knew I was planning to come home to the U.S. for a lecture tour.

Given that the Israeli government receives billions in U.S. military aid, my taxes and yours at work, our government should defend those of us who engage in nonviolent protests. I was encouraged last week, therefore, in meeting with the office of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that his office will pursue my concerns with the State Department and the Israeli government.

While I fear for myself, I am more worried for other activists who do not have the minimal protection of a U.S. passport. And, I am terribly worried for our future as we are squeezed into smaller and smaller apartheid-like Bantustans.

We will not be deterred from nonviolent protest. Despite being let down by numerous governments, we look to the United States and elsewhere in the international community to help defend us from abusive and violent responses to nonviolence.

* Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh is a tireless activist for Palestinian human rights who returned to his hometown of Beit Sahour in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and now teaches at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities. He previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke and Yale Universities. He is now president of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People in Beit Sahour, a suburb of Bethlehem. The author of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle.

Call to action: Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575 or email them by clicking here: http://bit.ly/aoJVMp

Ask the U.S, State Department to intervene with Israel to keep Dr, Qumsiyeh safe and out of jail.

Ehud Olmert Under Attack – Again [Video]

Haitham Sabbah — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:40:49 +0000

Thanks to Pro-Palestinian protesters in USA, Israeli War Criminal Ehud Olmert's speech in a San Francisco hotel was disrupted last night, exactly one week after he was verbally attacked at the University of Chicago over his war crimes committed by the Nazi state during the Gaza war.

"You are a war criminal and a murderer," one of the protestors shouted at Olmert during the speech before being removed from the auditorium by security officers.

Another protestor shouted, "You are a war criminal. San Francisco should be ashamed to have a war criminal here."

A young woman, identified by the person who documented the incident as a Jew, stood up and shouted, "No more genocide in my name." Another woman waved her hands, which were painted red.

Another protestors screamed at Olmert, "A hospital has been destroyed," referring to the Nazi Israel Air Forces' air strikes on Gaza.

The people who documented the protest did it secretly using a cellular phone, as cameras were not allowed into the lecture, and posted the clip on YouTube.

The clip's creators who documented the incident said they were proud to have managed to shut down Olmert's message through the protest inside and outside the auditorium. "We shall protest every speech until the war criminal is indicted," they wrote at the end of the clip.

New Yorkers protests for freedom for Palestinian activist who opposes Leviev’s settlements

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:11:38 +0000

Credit: Bud Korotzer

New York, NY, October 17, 2009 - On Saturday forty New York human rights advocates rallied on a cold fall day at the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli settlement mogul Lev Leviev to demand that Israel release jailed Palestinian boycott activist Mohammad Othman. Othman, held without charges and in solitary confinement since September 22nd, is from Jayyous, a West Bank village where Leviev's company Leader is building the Israeli settlement of Zufim. The protesters also called for an end to Israel's wave of arrests of Palestinian activists from Bil'in, another West Bank village campaigning against the construction of settlement homes by another Leviev company, Africa-Israel.

Andrew Kadi of Adalah-NY commented, "Israel's arrest of Mohammad Othman and residents of Bil'in simply affirms the need for a global movement of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), similar to the movement against apartheid South Africa, to hold Israel accountable, and pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights."

Mohammad Othman is believed to be the first person to be arrested by Israel specifically for advocating for the growing international movement to boycott companies, including Leviev's, that support Israeli human rights abuses. The New York protest was one of fourteen events held worldwide on October 16th and 17th calling for Mohammad Othman's immediate release.

Hundreds of Madison Avenue shoppers took home a cartoon flyer "Jailed for an Idea" that depicts Othman's detention, and Israel's efforts to crush the protest campaigns in the villages of Bil'in and Jayyous against Leviev's settlements (download the cartoon flyer - attached below). The protesters chanted, "Jayyous and Bil'in will not bow, Free Mohammad Othman now," and "Boycotting Israel is no crime, Leviev should be doing time." With a guitar accompaniment, the protesters sang songs calling for the boycott of Leviev and Israel, including an updated version of the civil rights classic, "which Side are You On," and "Don't Buy Israeli" to the tune of Hava Nagila.

Credit: Hanan Tabbara

Calls to free Mohammad Othman have been highlighted by The Nation, in letter campaigns by the US organizations Jewish Voice for Peace and Grassroots International, as well as in an international petition. Othman was detained as he crossed the Allenby bridge from Jordan, returning home to the West Bank from a trip to Norway. Othman's advocacy efforts on behalf of the growing international movement for BDS against Israel contributed to the Norwegian government's recent decision to divest from its pension funding holdings in Elbit Systems. Norway has also been asked by a coalition of eleven organizations and the villages of Jayyous and Bil'in to divest from Leviev's company Africa-Israel.

The villages of Jayyous and Bil'in have both been targeted with arrests and repression due to their multi-year nonviolent protest campaigns. Twenty-eight Bil'in activists have been arrested by Israel since June when Bil'in's lawsuit against settlement construction on village land was heard in Canadian court. Just weeks after he testified in Canada, Bil'in activist Mohammed Khatib was jailed by Israeli forces for 15 days and then released on bail. Bil'in protester Adeeb Abu Rahme and seventeen others are still being held in Israeli jails, and Bil'in protest organizer Abdullah Abu Rahme is "wanted" by the Israeli army for his nonviolent organizing.

The protest was 14th held in front of Leviev's New York store since it opened in November, 2007. Leviev's company Africa-Israel is currently reeling from a financial crisis. Additionally, the international campaign to boycott Leviev due to his settlement construction and involvement in abusive business practices in the diamond industry in Angola and Namibia has achieved a string of successes. UNICEF, Oxfam, The British Government and major Hollywood stars have all distanced themselves from Leviev. The investment firm BlackRock and pension giant TIAA-CREF both also recently sold off their shares of Leviev's company Africa-Israel, though both denied they did so due to his settlement construction.

Photos: http://adalahny.org/index.php/photo-galleries/325-free-mohammad-othman-stop-the-bds-arrests-at-leviev-ny

Source: www.adalahny.org

Click pictures for full size:

Bikini-clad activists crash ‘Tel Aviv Beach’ party at Central Park

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:54:05 +0000

by Codepink

On the sands of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism's Tel Aviv Beach in Central Park last Sunday, bikini-clad activists from the women's group CODEPINK covered themselves in mud to expose the truth behind the event: as a tool to clean up Israel's reputation in light of its dirty policies toward Palestine, including West Bank settlements, a border blockade of Gaza and this winter's devastating 22-day war on Gaza that killed more than 1,400 civilians, injured 5,300 and destroyed approximately 4,000 homes.

The activists have seen for themselves the devastation caused by the assault, and Israel's continuing blockade of the Gaza border. Within the past two months, five CODEPINK delegations of more than 150 American and international activists traveled to Gaza, Egypt and Israel and delivered medical supplies, humanitarian aid and playgrounds for Gazan children.

The bikini-clad CODEPINK women also distributed information exposing Israeli Dead Sea cosmetics company AHAVA ("love" in Hebrew), which uses mud illegally extracted from and packaged in the occupied territories.

"Despite its name, there is nothing loving about a company that profits from stolen resources and oppressed people," said CODEPINK coordinator Rae Abileah, who organized a protest of AHAVA in Tel Aviv last week. "We will paint ourselves with mud to show AHAVA's dirty side."

CODEPINK's "Stolen Beauty" AHAVA boycott campaign is part of the International Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement for Palestine to economically pressure the Israeli government to end its assault on Palestine and comply with international law.

More photos are found here.

Also, following is a video clip from the protest:

What you don’t see on CNN: IOF Shoot Live Ammunition on Peaceful Protest

Haitham Sabbah — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:31:27 +0000

Warning: Parental Guidance Suggested!

June 13 2008 - A young man from Bilin was shot with live rounds during the weekly Bilin Protest. Ibrahim Burnat who was shot in his right thigh was taken directly to Sheik Zaid Hospital in Ramallah and was described by doctors as being in critical condition. Ibrahim posed no threat to Israeli soldiers who shot him with live rounds simply for attempting to scale the Apartheid Wall as a symbolic gesture against the ongoing illegal occupation.

Here is the video:

Spread the word. Get the code from here:

- http://blip.tv/file/992275
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF1ibN40FJE (God knows how long it will stay on YouTube before some Zionist flag it to be removed like the previous video)
- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ruot_iof-shoot-live-ammunition-on-peacef_news

The protesters were shot with tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets, and finally live ammunition as the protest wound down.

One Israeli activist was wounded and another more seriously injured from rubber coated steal bullets. In addition dozens were treated for tear gas inhalation.

Locals where joined by international activists this week to protest against the apartheid wall and the expansion of Israeli settlements. The weekly protesters raised the Palestinian flag and slogans against the occupation. The signs demanded the dismantling of the Apartheid Wall, land confiscation, and the expansion of Israeli Settlements.

The protesters also demanded an end to Israel's killing of unarmed Palestinian civilians, the closure of roads in the West Bank, and large scale imprisonment as a form of collective punishment.

In other news, earlier this week the Israel Occupation Army arrested Bil'in resident Ashraf Mohammed Al-Jamal Tafwik Al-Khatib. Ashraf was passing through one of the many checkpoints on his way to work in Jericho when he was arrested. No reason was given for his arrest.

Ashraf was active in the weekly Bi'in peaceful protests and villagers believe this was the reason he was targeted, in a continued effort by the army to silence the people of Bilin. The Occupation Army had previously harassed Ashraf and his family by making unwanted visits to his family's home in previous failed attempts at arresting him.

(Source: http://www.palsolidarity.org)

Animals of Gaza protest against Siege!

Haitham Sabbah — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:08:47 +0000

Gaza Strip, Tuesday, 11th of March 2008 (PCAS)- As siege of Gaza Strip still hitting all life aspects, some activists against siege expressed their anger towards the silent world. Tens of horses, camels, sheep, goats and donkeys rallied in front of the UN headquarters in Gaza City on Tuesday in protest of Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian activists fitted the animals with signs in various languages reading, "Where is the world's conscience?" Save the children of Gaza", "Gaza is dying; end the siege," "Is the UN an international lie?" and "The UN has to end the siege of Gaza."

Sami Akila, the spokesperson of the Sunna' Al-Hayat society and the organizers of the rally said if the animals' messages reach the international community, Gazans will try sign language in an attempt to make their appeals understood.

"We know that animals in the world are fed to glut, while the children of Gaza suffer from hunger and anemia and most of them go to sleep without having supper. You are concerned about dogs more than your concern about us contradicting your own human values and the treaties you signed and failed to implement," Akila said, addressing the UN.

The protestors also delivered a message for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon asking him to save Gaza through implementing the principles of human rights. They said in the message, "Does the Secretary-General await the death of 1,200 Palestinian patients who are denied travel abroad for treatment, before the siege can be lifted?"

The Big Action To Free Gaza Strip

Haitham Sabbah — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 12:03:40 +0000

The slow genocide is still under way in Gaza ! Act Now !

We were all pleased to see a new wall tear down, but unlike the Berlin Wall, this does not mean that the occupation is over and Gazans are free.

Egypt closed the border back and the 5 days of freedom the Gazans courageously allowed themselves by demolishing the walls of their prison didn't allow them to erase 6 months of blockade, without medicines, without drinking water, without electricity, without fuel, without food balanced, without freedom.

The mainstream media reported that Israel will resume its fuel deliveries to Gaza, but they forget to mention that it will deliver only 20% of the amount necessary to the Gaza needs.

Israel has also announced that on February 7, it would reduce by 5% its electricity supplies to Gaza where power is severely lacking.

In Gaza, the humanitarian situation is still dramatic:

- 1562 patients are in need of treatment outside Gaza Strip and 322 patients have reach a critical stage. If the siege continues, 470 cancer patients will die.

- 107 class of basic medicines are depleted from Gaza Strip and 97 sorts of medicines are on the verge of depletion

- The hospitals treat only urgent cases due to the lack of power and fuel for back-up generators

- The mobilization must go on

We must pursue the work and ask this inhuman siege, which constitutes a war crime involving our governments, be lifted.

Ask your MPs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union, your representatives to the United Nations how they can sleep the night when people are dying due to their decision.

Ask them if the Palestinian genocide is the only way they found to solve the Jewish issue.

Get out in the streets, demonstrate, and organize candlelight vigils in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Show to your government that you do not agree to be witnesses of that slow genocide without saying anything.

Take part in the global effort organized on February 23th calling for the End of the Gaza Siege!

Free Gaza!

The action of protests will be across European, Arab, southern and Latin American countries.

Contact us, the Popular Committee Against Siege in Gaza (PCAS), and let us know what you are preparing for this global action!

Please, forward this call around you.

We need your help to Free Gaza!

Freegaza.ps@gmail.com

www.freegaza.ps
--
Popular Committee Against Siege(PCAS),
PCAS Manager,
Sam AK
Gaza - Palestine
Mob:00972598873055
Freegaza.ps@gmail.com
Website: www.freegaza.ps

Support Anti-War / Anti-Bush Activists

Haitham Sabbah — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:30:13 +0000

ISM members arrested in Chicago Need Your Support

On Monday, January 7th while President George Bush was visiting downtown Chicago, four anti-war activists were arrested as Bush left the exclusive Union League Club following his meeting with Mayor Richard Daley, Cardinal George and a coterie of wealthy businessmen.
Charged with disorderly conduct are Buddy Bell, 25, of the Gay Liberation Network, Kevin Clark, 57, of the Chicago chapter of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and Jeff Pickert, 19, of ISM.

Andy Thayer, 47, of GLN is charged with aggravated battery on a police officer - a felony. The ridiculous aggravated battery charge carries a potential 2 to 5 year prison term and/or up to $25,000 fine.

Due to the ongoing prosecution of the charges, the defendants are not at liberty to discuss the specifics of what happened on January 7th, but they do ask for your support.

Funds are urgently needed for the legal defense to defeat the charges Please give whatever you can by making checks payable to "8th Day Center for Justice" and write in the memo section, "Bush Protesters Legal Defense." Please mail the checks to:

8th Day Center For Justice
Attn: Bush Protesters Legal Defense
205 W. Monroe Street, 5th floor
Chicago, IL 60606

The defendants realize that taking time off of work, school and other commitments can be difficult for many, and so will only request your presence in the courtroom when they think it will have the most impact.

The first important court date, for Jeff, Buddy and Kevin, will be at 1:30 pm this coming Wednesday, January 23rd at the Branch 43 Courthouse, 3150 W. Flournoy (one block south of Harrison, just east of Kedzie). Please come out and show your support!

Bil’in protests Wall, Leviev, army shoots popular committee member in the head

Haitham Sabbah — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:54:22 +0000

[Via ISM] Abdullah Abu Rahme from the Popular Committee of Bil'in was shot in the head by a rubber-coated steel bullet yesterday at the weekly Bil'in demonstration. He is now recovering and can be reached at 0547258210. You can watch the video or read the report here:

On Friday, January 11th, villagers of Bil'in were joined by around 70 Israeli, international, and other Palestinian Human Rights activists in a protest against the Annexation Wall. In Bil'in, the wall is stealing more than 60% of village land, and even the Israeli Supreme Court said in a recent decision that the route of the wall was not planned for military reasons, but for land.

In that September 4th Supreme Court decision, the Wall was ordered to be taken down and the route redrawn. This was a court victory for the joint non-violent struggle, but has yet to be reflected with facts on the ground. The wall is still standing, and in fact recently settlers attempted to place new caravans on village land.

The demonstration began as a march towards the gate in the Wall, where soldiers were standing with guns drawn. At the front of the march was the banner, "LEVIEV TURNS THESE ROCKS OF APARTHEID INTO DIAMONDS" in reference to the diamond mogul Lev Leviev, protesting his extensive involvement in the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Soldiers let off a barrage of flash bombs when people got close. Flash bombs are similar to sound bombs, but they explode much sooner and are made of metal instead of plastic, so they weigh a lot more. They are generally used to injure people, where as normal sounds bombs mostly disorient people. A few demonstrators were hit by the flying metal objects, but none seriously injured.

After about an hour people began to move back towards the village, the soldiers used this chance to shoot off cannister after cannister of tear gas. One man was taken away on a stretcher from his exposure to the gas. Activists stood on the opposite hill and regrouped while soldiers continued to shoot gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Twice the army drove up the street to try and grab people but were stopped by makeshift stone roadblocks people built.

Near the end of the demonstration, army snipers shot Bil'in Popular Committee member Abdullah Abu Rahme in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet. Abdullah was also one of the activists hospitalized a week ago when settlers attacked a group of Palestinians who were non-violently protesting the placement of more caravans on their land. After the soldier shot Abdullah, he dances a bit and cheers, telling his comrades-in-arms that he "got one in the head!"

Menachem Begin’s grandson Protesting Apartheid Wall

Haitham Sabbah — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 21:27:05 +0000

A grandson of Israel's legendary right-wing prime minister Menachem Begin is a regular protester against the country's controversial West Bank separation barrier, media reported on Thursday.

The tabloid-style Maariv newspaper published a photograph of 32-year-old Avinadav Begin and a young Palestinian facing off with Israeli soldiers in riot gear during a weekly demonstration against the barrier.

Maariv quoted liberally from websites in which the young Begin declared his desire to "blow up this wall."

"This (barrier) will not help bring peace between Israel and Palestine because none of that exists," the young Begin reportedly wrote.

Read story here!

Occupation is a Crime, from Teaneck to Palestine

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:52:21 +0000

Anti-occupation groups protest â€œJews-onlyâ€ real estate sale of apartments in the West Bank. Amana (amana.co.il), the seller, brought shiny booklets where each contraband town had its own profile listing Jewish-only community centers, Jewish-only swimming pools, distance on Jewish-only roads to major destinationsâ€¦ no mention of the fact that the land is stolen. Buyer, beware!

The sale took place in Teaneck, NJ at Synagogue Bâ€™nai Yeshurun â€” notoriously right-wing and linked to the violent Israeli settlers who seize Palestinian land with the help & protection of the Israeli army.

Protesters are NJ & NY Palestinian & Jewish human rights groups, as well as local people from Teaneck and other towns. As usual, the Free Palestine movement is a motley crew. At this protest, there are those who know the ins and outs of the issue, and whose protest is factual and clear. And there are well-meaning but less-nuanced people who are so outraged about the simple fact of the settlements â€” and that Jews would visit their own fate on another people â€” that they descend into screaming. And thatâ€™s just how it goes till the occupation ends.

The region welcomes Condi (sort of)!

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:20:50 +0000

Seems that letting people die and starve does not make you popular, Condi.

The least they could have done was put her in one of her chic suits...

(click thumbnail to enlarge)

This from a demonstration waiting for Rice in Lebanon. [Hat tip: Editerette]

Tony Blair you make me ashamed to be British!

Haitham Sabbah — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 14:28:23 +0000

A British protester who gave her name as 'Kirsty' makes a stand-up protest against UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, wearing a shirt with the words "Tony Blair, you make me ashamed to be British", during his press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (unseen) after their meeting September 10, 2006 in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

H/T for Bilal Tarawneh for sharing this: Actually people like this girl makes me ashamed of our ignorance to our issues while others who are not related to this land or to the people living in it have the guts and the enthusiasm to defend our rights while we are (most of us) sitting helpless and useless.

They say; west civilization has no morals, which makes me wonder if people who we think they don’t have any morals would leave their homes and travel to most dangerous spots on earth to defend a fair case & would die for it (if you remember Rachel Corey) while the only thing that gathers them with the people living there is they are human, this makes me wonder what morals do we have???

I trust that one day we will wake up and rise but what worries me is that if this day will come while we still have at least one last breath…!!!

What Bilal missed is that this lady is a Scottish born in Elgin, but she was raised and grew in the Middle East and works for the Palestine Medical Relief Society. So, she knows more than average British people about Palestine and the conflict with Zionists:

The Herald - Kirsten Sutherland, 29, who was born in Elgin but grew up in the Middle East, and now works for the Palestine Medical Relief Society as an external relations officer donned a handmade T-shirt emblazoned with the words: "Tony Blair, you make me ashamed to be British." Ms Sutherland took her stand in silent protest.

She told The Herald: "As a British person living here, I can see directly the negative effect of British policy in the Middle East."

"After Hamas was elected, and with the withdrawal of funding from Palestine, people are more hostile on the street if they hear you talking and realise you are British. I have been insulted at markets because of my nationality, because people here are angry at the British."

Ms Sutherland also voiced her concerns over the Israeli raid on a Jericho prison in March this year, which left a Palestinian guard and one prisoner dead.

She said: "I think it has to be made clear to the world that the opinions of Tony Blair are not the opinions of the British public, and that not all people agree with the decisions and policy made by the government."

"People have told me that when I stood up and he saw my T-shirt, the Prime Minister visibly flinched. I don't like Tony Blair and feel he should be put in the position where he is made to justify and defend his decisions."

In Arabic: http://www.albayan.ae/...

Bahraini Protest

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 12:47:59 +0000

Bahraini citizens protest against Israel's war crimes in Lebanon.

Bahrain has been one of the loudest Arab countries to speak out against the war and that's something to take pride in. This is one of the biggest protests in the Gulf since the war began, Esra'a said.

Bahraini Youth Protest

Haitham Sabbah — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 18:14:39 +0000

Yesterday, Bahraini families toke their children to protest the terrorist war on Lebanon and the coward massacre by the Israeli terrorist army in Qana.

The Bahraini children made their voice heard and did most of the talking during the protest.

God bless you, kids of Bahrain. You are braver than most of our official who didn't even dare to condemn the Israeli massacre in Qana.

More photos and details of the protest by Esra'a here.