Activists in Gaza and Israel protest Gaza blockade on opposite side of border
RIZEK ABDEL JAWAD
AP News
Dec 31, 2009 07:45 EST
Hundreds of demonstrators rallied on opposite sides of an Israeli-Gaza border crossing on Thursday to protest the blockade of the seaside territory imposed by Egypt and Israel.
In Gaza, about 100 international activists gathered with some 500 Gazans, chanting and carrying signs denouncing the blockade.
A small number of anti-Zionist, Orthodox Jews were among them — a rare sight in Gaza.
Rabbi Dovid Feldman, from New York, said he came to Gaza for the march with three others from the small Neturei Karta sect, which denounces Israel's existence.
Feldman said Israel's offensive in Gaza last winter was "against Palestine, against Judaism, against the Jewish people and against humanity."
Thirteen Israelis and almost 1,400 Gazans were killed in the three-week war, which Israel launched to stop years of militant rocket fire on its southern towns.
March organizers said Egypt allowed only 100 of the 1,300 international activists who came to Cairo for the march to enter Gaza.
About 300 people held a similar protest on the Israeli side of the crossing, most of them Arab citizens of Israel.
Israel and Egypt imposed a strict blockade on Gaza after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.
The blockade has increased poverty in Gaza and prevented it from rebuilding after last winter's war.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects dateline.)
