Twin Protests
Metaphors for the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict rarely come this readymade: two protests,
one pro-Palestinian and one pro-Israeli, kitty-corner from each other in
a busy Midtown intersection. Their voices amplified by PA systems, the
protests' leaders exhort their audiences with rigidly ideological
slogans. Passing cars offer the occasional supportive honk to one
faction or another. Never do the two sides meet. They can hear only the
loudest calls from their enemies.
That
was the scene last night around Israel's consulate at East 42nd Street
and 2nd Avenue in New York City. The occasion, of course, was to
protest, or support, Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza and to protest,
or support, Hamas' rocket fire into southern Israel. The attendees were
well armed with signs and chants. They assembled in chilly weather,
corralled behind steel barricades, as dozens of NYPD officers watched
over them and shooed along pedestrians...READ MORE
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