About 300 members of various left-wing groups marched and rallied this weekend in protest against the cordoning off of a region between the Gaza Strip and Sinai and the evacuation of Bedouins from the area. The rally was held near Kerem Shalom, a settlement in southern Israel parallel to Raffah in the Gaza Strip. But the protestors did not cross the so-called Green Line that marks the boundary between Israel proper and the occupied territories.
Participants included members of Matzpen, an anti-Zionist splinter group; SIAH, acronym for the Israeli New Left; and settlers from Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz settlements in the south of the country. Uri Avneri, a Knesset member of the Haolam Hazeh faction, and Amos Kenan, a left-wing writer and journalist spoke against the evacuation of the Bedouins and the settlement of Jews in the Arab area. A group of counter-protestors who favor settlement in the occupied territories were also on hand. There were no contacts between the two groups, no incidents were reported, and police did not disturb the protestors.
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