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<font size=3>VIDEO: Citizens arrest, disruption of Olmert in San
Francisco <br><br>
Press release, <i>Northern California Palestine justice groups,</i> 23
October 2009 <br>
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10851.shtml" eudora="autourl">
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10851.shtml</a><br><br>
Video
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=491GOKwrN1s&feature=player_embedded" eudora="autourl">
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=491GOKwrN1s&feature=player_embedded<br>
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</a>Twenty-two activists were arrested at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert's speech to the World Affairs Council on 22 October between 6:30
and 7:30pm at the Westin St. Francis Hotel at Union Square in San
Francisco. Inside the auditorium, activists began disrupting the event by
placing Olmert under citizens arrest. Every couple of minutes, more
activists disrupted his speech, barely allowing him to speak, by reading
the names of the children killed in Gaza last winter, reading from the
recently published Goldstone report and displaying banners that read
"Lift the Siege on Gaza" and "War Crimes are Not Free
Expression!" Activists were removed from the auditorium chanting
"war criminal!" and taken to the Tenderloin Police Station
where they are being held for citation. Ten additional persons
participated in the action but were not arrested.<br><br>
Olmert ordered Israel's brutal attacks on Gaza beginning in late December
2008, code-named Operation Cast Lead. Last week, the UN Human Rights
Council passed a resolution endorsing the Goldstone report, an
independent investigation into the Gaza operation, which found that
Israel violated international law and possibly committed crimes against
humanity.<br><br>
"Israel is an apartheid state guilty of war crimes and its leaders
should not be welcome in San Francisco," said Lisa Nessan, a Jewish
resident of Oakland, who has traveled several times to Israel and
Palestine, most recently in May. "For the past 60 years, under
leadership like Olmert's, Israel has denied Palestinians their basic
human rights, built settlements on their lands, and killed civilians --
all to force them from their homeland."<br><br>
A lively protest also gathered across from the hotel in Union Square,
where about 150 persons carried signs bearing the names and pictures of
children killed during Operation Cast Lead. Olmert is making several
appearances in the US this month, and has been met with strong protests
at locations including the University of Chicago and Tulane University in
New Orleans. "We join with people around the world who believe that
Israel and its leaders must be held accountable for their actions. Israel
killed 1,400 people during its attacks on Gaza last winter alone, and
many more have died or suffered from the effects of siege, occupation,
and apartheid on their daily lives," said Monadel Herzallah, a
Palestinian activist who lives in Fairfield and whose 21-year-old cousin
was killed in Gaza in January.<br><br>
Organizers also expressed outrage that US President Barack Obama has
ignored the findings of the Goldstone report. The US has pledged more
than $3 billion each year in unrestricted aid to Israel. "Israel's
use of US aid and military equipment violates our own laws," said
Rae Abileah, an organizer with CODEPINK whose father is Israeli.
"Why are we giving aid to a country that is destroying people's
homes and attacking civilians, while our own nation is struggling with
unemployment and underfunded social services?"<br><br>
Eduardo Cohen of San Francisco sums up the sentiment: "The war
crimes in the Goldstone Report are not an exception, but a reminder that
Israel's apartheid law is itself criminal. We must not only hold Olmert
accountable, but all of Israel's leaders, our own elected officials, and
other companies and individuals that profit from these crimes. Only then
can true justice be reached."<br><br>
The protest was sponsored by: Arab Resource & Organizing Center
(AROC), Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid (BACEIA), CODEPINK
Women for Peace, Friends of Deiribzi'a, Northern California International
Solidarity Movement, Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), South Bay
Mobilization, Stop AIPAC, CAL Students for Justice in Palestine, US
Palestine Communities Network (USPCN), Bay Area Women in Black.<br><br>
<i>Video produced by The Electronic Intifada.</i> <br><br>
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San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
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