www.zombietime.com/bus_19_berkeley/part_2 -> www.zombietime.com/bus_19_berkeley/part_2/
Many of them fashioned their kaffiyehs into masks -- either to hide their identities, or to intimidate the Israel supporters, or to declare their solidarity with the masked terror groups in the Middle East.
click here ( or on the photo above) to see a video (QuickTime, 24mb) of the Palestin ian protesters chanting: Protesters: Don't believe the news, it's controlled by the Jews! Soon, their urge to initiate a violent confrontation could no longer be s uppressed. ", stormed across the street and through the park into the unsuspecting cro wd listening to the anti-terrorism speakers.
Click here (or on the photo above) to see a video (QuickTime, 10mb) of an assault on the anti-terrorism rally by a group of Palestinian protes ters. Here's a transcription of the incident: Palestinian protesters: Allahu Ackbar!
Thinking the crisis was over, the police eased off a bit for a moment and unwisely let the two groups come into contact again. A teenage Palestinian boy (seen here on the upper r ight, with a kaffiyeh) attacked one of the Jewish audience members, but was quickly subdued by the police.
Over in the anti-Israel camp, I encountered a wide variety of Palestinian sympathizers. The ones who stood right next to the Palestinians were qu ite up-front about their feelings. The message "Hebrew Genocidists Out o f Canaan" is part of a newly developing political meme (which I've begun to see more and more often at protests in Berkeley) that attempts to pu sh the start of the "occupation" from 1967 CE all the way back to about 1400 BCE, when the early Israelite tribes first settled in the area now known as Israel and Palestine.
According t o this guy, the entire history of the Jews' 3,500-year association with the Holy Land is a "genocidal" military "occupation." Needless to say, i n his view the only way to rectify this historical greivance is to drive the Jews out completely and permanently. As I progressed down the block, the protesters' views became less and les s extreme, and more and more naive.
A little further over were the old-time lefties, such as this woman who s upported Barbara Lee (the US Representative for Berkeley and Oakland who voted to affirm her opposition to the separation barrier between Israel and the Palestinian Territories) and Rachel Corrie (the American activi st who was run over by an Israeli construction bulldozer while working w ith Palestinian militants). This category of protester was strongly, stu pidly anti-Israel, but not so aggressive that they'd dare to get into an argument with their opponents face-to-face.
At the other end of the block, standing as far away from the Palestinians as possible, were the wealthy North Berkeley peaceniks, with their expe nsive clothes. They want to show their peaceful hatred of Israel, but at the same time they feel uncomfortable being associated with those dista steful hotheads at the other end of the block. It's all revealed in thei r body language: standing upright and smug, but squinched over to the si de as far as they can go, to distance themselves from the embarrassing r abble of their fellow anti-Israel protesters.
In fact, I discovered that if you were to stand behind the crowd, you'd s ee that the protesters had unconsciously arrayed themselves into a self- organized political spectrum, with the most violent and overtly anti-Sem itic people on the far left side of the picture, and getting more and mo re naive and less and less vituperative as you move toward to the right side of the picture. It was a fascinating sociological manifestation, re flecting in a microcosm the structure of the entire modern "Left" as a w hole.
One of the well-dressed pro testers from the middle of the block, apparently upset at some of the ve rbiage coming from the protesters at the far end, walked over and starte d trying to convince them to tone down their anti-Semitic language.
Click here to hear a group of protesters strategizing about what thei r message should say (mp3 file, 300kb). Please note that, as in the earlier clip, the sound quality is not very g ood, though the voices are audible: Female protester: I'm not gonna tell you not to be loud and everything, ' cause I know it's in your heart.
we don't want to say any, uh, anything aga inst the Jews. There was no climactic end to the event: the chanting, arguing and confro ntations rolled on for most of the afternoon. The police presence preven ted any more violence, though tempers continued to flare all day. Below is a selection, in no particular order, of various scenes from the rest of the protest.
Click here (or on the photo above) to see a video (QuickTime, 40mb) of a confrontation between a group of pro-Palestine protesters and a sin gle senior pro-Israel woman.
Click here to hear a Palestinian protester showing off his knowledge of Shakespeare as he tells the Jewish protesters what would happen if th ey came over to his side of the street (mp3 file, 128kb). Here's a trans cription: Palestinian protester: Hey pussy!
Click here to hear a Palestinian protester referring to suicide bombe rs as legitimate tools of war (mp3 file, 120kb): Palestinian protester: We will win! Whether it takes one suicide bomber - - one day we will have tanks, we'll have tanks, we'll have the M-16s, an d we'll see.
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