Leave Lebanon now, protesters demand
 

Byline: HEIDI J. GLEIT, Margot Dudkevitch

Date: Monday, March 1, 1999

Publication: Daily Page: 02
 
 

Some 40 angry protesters caused a huge traffic jam in Tel Aviv
yesterday, when they blocked the road in front of the Defense Ministry
during a demonstration to demand that the IDF get out of Lebanon.

Chanting 'There's a solution, get out of Lebanon' and waving posters
with slogans like 'Wake up! The next victim in Lebanon is liable to be
your son,' the protesters lay down in the middle of Rehov Kaplan after
they set a tire on fire on the sidewalk.

Police directed traffic around the protesters and tried to limit the protest
to two lanes of the four-lane road.

'This war is going on because the citizens are stupid,' declared Yona
Rochlein, one of the founders of Kav Adom (Red Line), which was
founded on Saturday and advocates an immediate withdrawal from
Lebanon.

As the protesters exchanged insults with annoyed drivers and asked
them to join the protest, word slowly spread that three more soldiers and
a reporter had just been killed in Lebanon.

'Our kids are killed every day for nothing,' Zamira Poran shouted at a
youth in a Purim costume who got out of a car to argue with her because
he was frustrated with the delay.

Police arrested Shaul Tzedaka, a communications professor at Bar-Ilan
University, after he tried to force his way into the ministry. A lawyer who
joined the protest said that he managed to talk police out of arresting
him after he poured gasoline over the tires.

Police dragged, pulled, and shoved several of the other protesters out of
the street, causing one woman to fall, though they helped her up
afterward.

Dganit Katz, one of the organizers, said the demonstration was set up
after worried parents contacted her and others and said they had
decided to take a more active role, instead of sitting idly at home.

'We are not like the Four Mothers movement. Many of those taking part
today left them because they felt it was time to take action and keep
Lebanon in the forefront until something is done. Not just when our boys
are killed there,' she said yesterday morning, before the news of the
latest deaths.

Poran who took part in the demonstration said she was willing to do
what ever it takes to get 'our sons' out of Lebanon.

'I today am willing to play a radical role, even if it means lying in the
street, in order to reach the decision makers and meet with those in
charge,' she said.

Poran said she recently spoke with a bereaved father who regretted that
he had not taken a more active role in calling for a unilateral withdrawal
and ensuring that 'our children' get out of Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Gabi Kfir, 52, whose son Omer serves in Lebanon and is
due to be discharged in four months wrote to Defense Minister Moshe
Arens offering to exchange places with his son. He said he believes
there were many missions he could carry out despite his age. Only a
handful of units actually go into battle in Lebanon, he said, adding there
is no reason that he can't take over jobs being carried out by soldiers
there.

'Our generation entered Lebanon and it is our generation that needs to
wind up the issue. Our sons don't need to become casualties there
because of our incapability to solve the Lebanese problem,' he stated in
his letter.

Kfir who lives in Ma'alot says he is against unilateral withdrawal but
wants his son out of Lebanon.

'My son's future is before him, mine is in the past,' he told Channel 1
yesterday.