-Caveat Lector- AUGUST 17, 06:17 EDT Foreign Activists Back Palestinians By JASON KEYSER Associated Press Writer AL KHADER, West Bank (AP) - As a 13-year-old Palestinian boy bulldozed an Israeli roadblock in the center of his town, three dozen foreign sympathizers stood guard. Israeli soldiers watched from a hilltop Thursday as Sultan Khaled Mousasbiah jerked the gears of the rusting yellow bulldozer and pushed down an unmanned barrier, made of a hollowed out city bus and heaps of dirt, rock and cement. For the Palestinians of this town south of Bethlehem, it was a small victory. For the international group of demonstrators, it was mostly a symbolic one. Like the last time they helped demolish the roadblock, they understood that Israeli soldiers were likely to put it back up. Among them was Heidi Arraf, a 25-year-old Palestinian-American who moved to Jerusalem a year ago and has helped put together an umbrella group of activists called the International Solidarity Movement. The group supports Palestinians in their struggle for statehood and hopes to help end nearly 11 months of violence. ``Our governments are calling for the same thing - you must take action to end the violence. But no one is taking action. We are,'' Arraf said, using her hand to shield her eyes from the setting sun as she watched Israeli soldiers on the hillside. About 80 activists from the United States, Germany, Italy, France, England and other European countries responded to mass e-mail calls to come to the region this month to join local activists for two weeks of semi-spontaneous demonstrations. For the last two weeks they have scuffled with Israeli police who took over the unofficial Palestinian headquarters in east Jerusalem after a bloody suicide bombing attack in the Jewish section of the city, spent the night with Palestinian families in nearby Beit Jalla during firefights with Israelis and held demonstrations. As the demonstrators marched through Al Khader, a small Palestinian boy, a blue T-shirt wrapped around his head showing only eyes, ran into the street, holding a toy machine gun he made out of black tape and cardboard. Irene Siegel, 36, a student at the University of California at Berkley, expressed concern. ``Who are their role models? What do they aspire to be? Where are they going to go to get their education?'' she said. Siegel, one of 20 Americans in the group, is a Jew who came from Cairo, where she is participating in an Islamic studies program. Standing next to her was Linda Bevis, 40, a history teacher at Renton High School in Seattle. She and her husband spent a night with a Palestinian family in the divided West Bank city of Hebron, where there are almost daily exchanges of fire as Palestinians shoot at Jewish enclaves and soldiers fire back. ``At a certain point, when people are being shot and killed on a regular basis the only way to nonviolently stop it is to put your bodies in between the shooters and the people who are being shot,'' she said. After members of the group tried to act as human shields in front of Palestinians during an exchange of fire, an Israeli official wondered why they weren't protecting the Israelis. Fighting broke out last September after peace talks broke down. Israel charges that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is using the violence to try to wring further concessions out of Israel. The Palestinians counter that Israel is using excessive force. Their main argument is that Israel's 34-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the primary cause of the violence. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
