Protesters react to Mideast conflict at Westwood rallies

  JONATHAN YOUNG Areej Radwan protests
against the Israeli offensive in the Middle East at a demonstration
at the Federal Building Saturday. She was joined by about 2,000
other protesters.

By Christina Jenkins
Daily Bruin Contributor

In a weekend that marked President Bush’s demand that
Israelis withdraw from the West Bank, two protests at the Westwood
Federal Building brought the politically-charged conflict close to
campus.

On Saturday, Bush called on Israel to “withdraw without
delay” from the Palestinian cities it has occupied.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who spoke to Bush on
Saturday and Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday, has pledged
to try to “expedite” his military operation, according
to an Israeli statement, but did not announce a timetable for
withdrawal.

Bush announced Thursday that Powell will travel to the Middle
East this week to try to halt escalating violence and steer the
Palestinians and Israelis toward peace.

Partially in response to these proclamations, two demonstrations
comparable in size ““ one pro-Palestinian, the other
pro-Israeli ““ were held at the Federal Building over the
weekend.

On Saturday, approximately 2,000 people supporting Palestinian
Authority

  NAM PHO Protesters against Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat rally at the Federal Building Sunday ““ one day after
pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered at the same site.

President Yasser Arafat and condemning Israeli occupation of
Palestinian cities packed the corners of Wilshire Boulevard and
Veteran Avenue.

“Every time the (traffic) light would change … people
would march across the street carrying signs. It was visually
exciting and very inspiring,” said Scott Scheffer, an
organizer for the International Answer Coalition, which
participated in Saturday’s rally.

The International Action Center, which co-sponsored the rally,
intends to hold another demonstration in San Francisco on April 20.
Preston Wood, co-director of the center, said that rally will push
the same message.

“We want the Israelis to stop killing Palestinians and to
get out of the occupied territory,” Wood said.

Sunday afternoon, a second rally was held at the same
intersection ““ this one in support of Israel.

Amid chants of “Arafat’s a terrorist” and
“Havainu Shalom Aleimn” ““ translated to mean
“bring peace to us” ““ a crowd of similar size
waved Israeli flags in support of Prime Minister Sharon.

“It’s a rally about peace, it’s not a rally
about killing people,” said UCLA student Inbal Naveh, who
attended the demonstration.

Dallia Azarian, a graduate student in the UCLA School of
Education, denounced Bush’s call on Sharon to retreat.

“Not as long as the suicide bombs are still going
on,” she said, adding that she hopes Powell will “try
to get Arafat to condemn terrorists” when he arrives in the
Middle East this week.

The two rallies were among many held throughout the country and
internationally over the weekend.

Tens of thousands of activists marched through Paris and Rome
Saturday, demanding Israel stop its offensive in the West Bank and
expressing solidarity with Palestinians.

Another demonstration near the United Nations in New York on
Saturday expressed support for Israel in its military offensive in
the West Bank.

On Sunday, Andrew Cuomo, who is battling for the Democratic
nomination to run for New York governor, asked the head of the
Norwegian Nobel Committee in a letter to rescind Yasser
Arafat’s 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.

Arafat shared the award with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres and then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for efforts
that led to the now-tattered 1993 Oslo Agreement. The prize cannot
be revoked.

Reports from Sabrina Singhapattanapong, Daily Bruin Contributor,
and The Associated Press.