topic by
Lynette
8/13/2002 (22:18) |
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Jews, Christians Rally for Israel
By TALLIE LIEBERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM- Jews and Christians joined hands Tuesday while marching through the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem in a show of support for Israel in its ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.
More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the Jewish neighborhood, which was restored after Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem in the 1967 war. Palestinians want to set up a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with a capital in the parts of Jerusalem that Israel took in the war.
Sixty Jewish Americans led the rally, singing Jewish songs in the streets and waving banners bearing the message, 'Terrorism must be defeated.'
'Our goal is to go back to campus and tell the world that Israel is here to stay,' said Columbia University student Ari Saks, 20. 'This is the heart of the Jewish existence.'
Jerusalem has been one of the targets of Palestinian bomb attacks in violence that began in September 2000. On July 31, a bomb blew up a cafeteria at the Hebrew University campus, killing nine people, including five Americans. The ninth victim, Revital Barashi, a 30-year-old Israeli, died of her wounds Tuesday. 'Israel is my home,' said Detroit resident Dasi Krupnik, 24, a counselor in an educational program for Jewish women.
'I want to live here, because you can feel God's presence here,' said Krupnik, who nonetheless plans to return to the United States in September.
The rally was organized by Rabbi Shmuel Goldin of Englewood, N.J., who set up the World Solidarity Movement group last month. Most of those attending the Jerusalem rally were from the United States, along with Christians and Jews from Canada, Europe, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
'There are people here who traveled 22 hours just to be here 72 hours,' rally coordinator Robert Miller said.
Alongside a Bucharan band blaring music, 20 Sri Lankan pilgrims marched quietly, wearing wooden crosses and green shirts.
Sri Lankan tour guide Rodney Koelmeyer said this was the 12th pilgrimage to the Holy Land he had coordinated this year.
'We have been and continue to be supportive of Israel,' Koelmeyer said. 'With all of the bad publicity, we still have confidence.'
Some Israelis marched along. Nine-year-old Israeli Mazan Mula, whose family immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia, joined her parents at the event.
'I think that these people are right,' she said, clutching her baseball cap in one hand and her friend's hand in the other.
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