A petition urging Premier Menachem Begin to modify his policies in the interests of peace was passed hand-to-hand today along a human chain extending for some 10 miles from the heart of Jerusalem into the hills surrounding the city. Spokesmen for the Peace Now movement which organized the demonstration, estimated that 4000 men, women and children participated, standing several yards apart on the main Jerusalem highway.
The demonstration was the latest in a mounting grass roots campaign demanding that the government give peace priority over territories and a so-called Greater Israel. Many of the participants carried banners saying “Peace Now Is Not a Dream.”
The petition contained about 12,000 signatures. It was offered to Begin on the eve of his departure for the U.S. where he meets with President Carter next Monday. It also coincided with Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan’s presence in Washington today for talks with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.
Representatives of the Peace Now movement said that 60,000 postcards, each individually signed, were being delivered separately to Begin. The postcards say in part: “I urge you not to endanger peace by further settlements (in the occupied Arab territories). Don’t take a path from which there is no return. I love Israel. I want peace now.”
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