this afternoon at New York University was like a scene right out of a movie- allow me to briefly outline what happened this afternoon when we protested against two soldiers of the 'israeli defense forces' who were speaking at NYU as part of their tour around the US (their supposed aim is to draw attention the moral and ethical codes of the israeli army). we walked into the jewish centre in pairs, inconspicuously we showed ID, and proceeded upstairs to quite a small room, the israeli soldiers were sprawled out on a couch in their khaki army uniforms embroidered with the israeli flags. i think it was meant to be a comfortable space for them and their zionist comrades, cookies in platters on the coffee table, and an obnoxious israeli flag draped in the background (that i know none of us could look at without becoming nauseous). however, it was not long before their comfort level dropped below freezing level. the female soldier began to speak, dima who was seated cross-legged in front of her, drew her 'hatta' out of backpack and placed it around her neck, i swiftly followed her lead, proudly encircling myself with the scarf, then suzanne did the same, followed by three other colleagues. the soldier was flabbergasted, she fidgeted, stuttered, almost fearful of us, the male soldier was less taken aback. samia immediately began to pose provocative questions, with her "niece" (lamis) by her side caring for her :-) we all had our hands up, they didn't know how to handle us. "palestinians send their kids out, to get CNN's attention, and to get money..." they said. we were fuming. "israel is the only democracy in the middle east..." they continued to say...all of us, burst out into hysterical laughter. at that point, there were two cops in the room, and they were ordered to 'escort' a few of us out. the exit wasn't graceful. around four of us stood up proud, chanting, with posters, 'end the occupation, end the occupation,' their voices were powerful and echoed through the hall. some of us remained and continued to ask questions, although our attempts were, as we expected, in vain. both the soldiers spewed lies, and were totally unaware of basic political realities. i asked about silencer guns, the soldier said she didn't know what they were, because only rubber bullets were used...which are like "tennis balls." andrew soon enlightened the soldier on the actual make-up and lethal nature of rubber-coated steel bullets. soon we were all forced to leave, which we were fine with as the self-appointed moderators were being very disrespectful. again, our exit was powerful, amira called to the others in the room, to open their eyes and see the injustice of it all, and as we were shoved out, we chanted. oz stayed, and i assume that he was asked to leave soon after. we exited the building only to find a large group of us, voices loud, signs high, right infront of the building. we demonstrated, gave out flyers, it got dark, colder, we continued. the naturei karta rabbis joined us. mahmoud drove by many times in his graffitied car. we were unprecedently loud, "IDF, what do you say? how many kids have you killed today." finally, the two soldiers (who were probably in an utter state of shock) emerged...no, they actually ran into their van-we swiftly followed, the police held most of us back-forcefully-as we yelled "murderers!" myself and an activist, however, got past the cops, and ran after the car, looking into their eyes..."murderers"...we screamed (and we seriously were screaming because we had just counted the 211 palestinians who had been killed, so we were in pain, we were angry). i wish more of you could have been with us. we refused to sit back and allow lies to be spewed from the mouths of an army who just yesterday killed 8 palestinian civilians. just how the palestinian people in the occupied territories will never submit to the racist oppression and brutality of the zionist state. injustice will not be silenced. in struggle and solidarity, mary. ps: don't forget about monday's demo. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Mary Y Nazzal (212) 853-4617 (646) 391-7027 FOR MORE INFO ON RECENT EVENTS IN THE ARAB WORLD, PLS REFER TO: //www.addameer.org/september2000/ AND FOR INFO ON THE WORLDWIDE DEMONSTRATIONS, PLS REFER TO: //hanthala.virtualave.net/ "When all the legal roads are closed to the people, the only road open is that of revolution. Who is the provoker? Are we the provokers or the rulers?" -Michel Aflak "Life without liberty is like a body without spirit." -Kahlil Gibran, "The Vision" ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition's listserve, is a moderated forum for individuals active in the Palestine right to return campaign regardless of organizational affiliation if any. Al-Awda develops, coordinates, supports and guides, as needed, global and local grassroots initiatives for action related to the Palestine refugee right to return campaigns. Unless indicated otherwise, all statements on Al-Awda represent the views of their authors and not necessarily those of Al-Awda or its management who may be reached anytime at Al-Awda-SC@egroups.com. For moderation issues, contact Al-Awda-moderator@egroups.com. 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