On March 20th Many San Franciscans Also Marched For An End To The Occupation Of Palestine

Since June 2002, Israel has been busy erecting an Apartheid Wall which cuts deep inside the Occupied West Bank. Upon completion, the Wall will be some 700 km long and will facilitate the Israeli annexation of approximately 52% of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians with only 12% of historic Palestine. Nearly 16% of the Palestinian people will be caught on the \'wrong side\' of the Wall, facing expulsion due to unbearable living conditions with little or no access to their lands, markets, water resources, and communities. On the other hand, approximately 98% of the settlements in West Bank will be included in the de facto annexed areas. The Wall is the latest display of long-standing Israeli plans of land grab, Apartheid and expulsion in Palestine.

The \'first phase\' of the Wall was completed in July 2003; it is 145 km long and runs through Jenin, Tulkarem, and Qalqiliya districts of West Bank. It has isolated some of the best farm land in the West Bank from more than 3000 farmer-families, separated flourishing markets from traders, and directly affected the lives of more than 200,000 people.

Currently, destruction for the Wall is taking place in countless localities in the northern West Bank, but in particular in the central West Bank in the Jerusalem and Ramallah districts. With greater international attention around this crime, the number of areas facing daily devastation through the military and Occupation bulldozers has only increased, a clear message by the Occupation. The Palestinian people know full well of the intentions behind the Wall, as stated in a slogan from anti-Wall demonstrations: \"We Will Not Relive the 1948 Nakbe\"

The construction of the Wall has dramatically exacerbated the ills of life under Israeli Occupation. It has robbed the Palestinian people of their livelihoods and freedom of movement, creating ghettos—at times called by those affected \"cages\" - with high levels of unemployment and total dependence on foreign aid for survival. Therefore, a popular grassroots-based movement against the Apartheid Wall becomes an integral part of the struggle against the Occupation, and restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people. Demolition of the Apartheid Wall is to be seen as an integral part of ending the Occupation of Palestine.

http://www.stopthewall.org/

Web Site With Updates On Palestine:
http://electronicintifada.net/new.shtml
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/
http://palestinechronicle.com/
http://palestine.indymedia.org/
http://www.merip.org/

http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

http://www.handala.org/

Several hundred pro-Israel protesters gathered in front of the courthouse before the march arrived. While many signs refered to Israel wanting peace, but the hostile nature of the group towards all antiwar activists and the jingoistic waving of American flags and signs accusing peace activists of supporting suicide bombers seemed to indicate that the pro-Israel protesters had no interest in peace.

There was also a strong anti-UN sentiment among many in the pro-war crowd. Many people organized by Protest Warrior and the Free Republic intermixed with the pro-Israel crowd uniting in support of a moral system centered around ideas of nationalism and "might makes right".