Demonstration

Today, Christians for Jews and Israeli Action Commitee displayed a bus that was bombed in Israel in a public Park in Berkeley. Middle East Children's Alliance called a silent vigil in response to this form of representation. I went to the vigil and took some pictures. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were on the sidewalk across from the park, where Israeli state proponents had gathered. After holding the picture of a Palestinian child who was killed (Samer Tabanja, 12 years-young. Killed on October 1st, 2000 in front of his home), I walked through the park and took some pictures from the posters on that side as well. One poster that drew my attention said "we provide you with everything you need to support Israel on the street!" There seemed to be a lot of plain-cloth agents on the Israeli side (the wired guy you see in the first picture from behind). On the pro-Palestinian side, there were a wide range of people: Jews for free Palestine, people who held rainbow flags, Women in Black, Not in Our Name, and people like myself who were not necessarily affiliated with any group, but had come for support. Seeing a group of Iranians at the vigil was very heart-warming. There were also a small group of pro-Israeli demonstrators who were shouting at pro-Palestinian folks, and as expected, a small group of people who were shouting back (I was very uncomfortable with some of the exchanges between these two groups).
In any case, I tried not to take people's faces and that's why most of the pictures have captured people from behind.
I also got a beautiful Palestinian paintings calendar from a friend. Visit the site and buy the art if you are interested. The money goes to palestinian artisist in Palestine.
And here is a poem from Suheir Hammad, which I posted on my Persian blog this morning. I will post it here as well: