THE MIDDLE EAST: Israel's struggling peace movement received a huge boost when more than 100,000 demonstrators rallied at the weekend calling for a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the start of peace talks.
The massive show of support for the pull out of troops and settlers from the Israeli-occupied Palestinian enclave came at the end of a bloody week of fighting there in which 13 Israeli soldiers and 32 Palestinian fighters and civilians were killed.
Saturday night's protest, the biggest peace demonstration in several years, was held under the slogan: "Get out of Gaza, start talking," which was emblazoned on a huge banner draped across the main stage.
Demonstrators of all ages, including many parents with young children, thronged the streets around the rally point, Rabin Square where former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was killed in 1995 by a Jewish extremist opposed to peace efforts.
The square has become associated with Israel's left-wing peace movement, which has wilted in recent years following the failure of the Oslo peace process and the upsurge in violence during the 3½ years of the current Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Security was tight at the event, but the atmosphere was relaxed and upbeat, with proceedings opening with a minutes' silence for the 13 soldiers killed in three separate incidents in the volatile strip last week.
New York born Ms Norma Schneider (69), who has lived in Jerusalem for 34 years, said she was not an activist, but felt compelled to attend the demonstration. "Even though I don't think that the Arabs necessarily deserve to have their land back because they lost it when they went to war against us, I don't think that Jews should be ruling over other people after they were ruled over for so long. I think it's bad for the Jews as well as the Arab people, not to mention our boys being killed while they are down there in Gaza to protect those fanatical settlers who insist on being in Netzarim [a Gaza settlement]," she said.
Ms Tova Meryn Zartz, an Australian who emigrated to Israel in 1967, said she wanted to at least do "something minimal to show that I'm very distressed about the situation, so that the world will know that not only the right wing represents Israel." White peace balloons drifted into the darkened sky as a succession of speakers took to the main stage to rally the masses.
The head of the opposition Labour Party, Mr Shimon Peres, told the crowd it represented Israel's majority and that its numbers far outstripped the 60,000 members of the ruling Likud Party who recently voted down a proposal by premier Mr Aerial Sharon to evacuate Gaza in a unilateral move. "Eighty per cent of our people want peace. 1 per cent are trying to block it," he said. The founder of the Peace Now movement, Mr Tzali Reshef, received a loud ovation when he declared: "Down with the rule of the settlers! We will not continue to sacrifice our sons for the sake of the settlers."
Recent opinion polls confirm that the majority of Israelis support the withdrawal from the strip of some 7,500 extremist Jewish settlers who are protected by soldiers.
Demonstrators hope the rally will put pressure on the government to accept a revised plan for a pull out from Gaza which Mr Sharon is due to present to his cabinet in the coming weeks.