News, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
Turks Rally to Protest US, Israeli Policies
Agencies, Arab News
ANKARA, 28 September 2003 — Thousands of Turks took to the streets in two separate demonstrations yesterday to denounce the US-led occupation of neighboring Iraq and Israel’s policies against the Palestinians, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Nearly 3,000 people — from trade unions and non-governmental organizations — turned up for the protest in Istanbul, which passed peacefully, the agency said. “Freedom to Palestine, long live the global intifada,” chanted the demonstrators.
In the capital Ankara, meanwhile, members of trade unions, minor left-wing parties, environmental groups and human rights organizations gathered in the downtown Sihhiye square for a three-hour protest.
A press statement from the organizing committee criticized the United States for attacking Iraq without a valid reason and called on the Turkish government to say no to a US request to send soldiers to Iraq.
“We will not send soldiers to Iraq, we will not let our sovereignty be trampled on, we will not become an accomplice to the occupation,” said the statement, carried by Anatolia. More than 3,500 police were called on duty for the protest, which ended without incident.
NATO member Turkey has yet to decide on whether to contribute soldiers to a stability force in Iraq, but the idea has attracted criticism from both the public and Parliament — which has to approve the dispatch of Turkish soldiers abroad.
Some 5,000 people marched in the streets of the Lebanese capital Beirut yesterday to express support for the Palestinians and to protest against the US occupation of Iraq. The procession, led by about 50 children from the dozen Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, came to a halt outside the United Nations building in Beirut, where large pictures of the Lebanese and Syrian leaders were displayed, an AFP photographer said.
“Palestine and Iraq are the conscience of the nation,” read one placard, while another vowed: “We choose armed struggle in the face of defeat and imperialist Zionist terrorism.”
A group from northern Lebanon held aloft photographs of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and chanted: “We say it out loud, we are with you, Saddam.”
Meanwhile, Syria welcomed a six-month timeline sketched by US Secretary of State Colin Powell for producing a new Iraqi constitution aimed at returning the country to self-rule. In an interview with Lebanese satellite channel LBC International, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara said Powell’s comments were the first from Washington to address practical steps for ending the occupation of Syria’s neighbor.
“This is the first public proposition I have heard that contains some American good faith regarding their presence in Iraq,” Shara said in the interview, excerpts of which were aired by LBC yesterday.
“As soon as they think about a limited time period to end this presence, with the placement of a constitution and contemplation of elections ... they put in place a process for logical progression to end the occupation,” he said.
Powell said on Friday he would like Iraqi leaders to produce a constitution within six months, but was vague about when a timeline toward self-rule would begin. It was the first time a top US official has given any kind of deadline in an apparent effort to assuage demands by France and other UN Security Council members who want rapid moves towards Iraqi sovereignty. “This course is good if it is sincere and is implemented on the ground,” said Shara, who was speaking from New York.
 |
| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
 |
| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
 |
| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
 |