It was "the largest left-wing demonstration the country has seen for years", according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.
More than 100,000 people - the equivalent of over a million in Britain - rallied in Tel Aviv on 1 November. Formally, it was only a ceremony to mark the eighth anniversary of the killing of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by a right-wing Israeli zealot, but "the the banners held up were all political and very specific: Leave the [Occupied] Territories - save the country; The Geneva Accord - New Hope, etc." (The Geneva Accord is a new two-states plan recently produced by leftish Israeli politicians and Palestinian leaders, and vehemently condemned by the Sharon government).
"The presence of young people was particularly noticeable".
It would be wrong to think that the Israeli peace movement is fully resurgent, confident and militant. The rally was quiet as well as large, and applauded the old wheeler-dealer Shimon Peres. But Sharon is beginning to come under some pressure.
Three days later, on 4 November, airports, schools and banks were stopped for some hours by protest strikes. The Histadrut trade union federation had called a general strike against government plans to legislate for privatisations, job cuts, pension cuts and wage cuts, but, the day before, the National Labour Court ruled the general strike illegal.
On the evening of 4 November eighteen trade union leaders made an appeal to Histadrut chair Amir Peretz to defy the law and call a general strike. "An ambulance carrying wounded people must sometimes run a red light", they said.
Day of action against "Separation Wall"
International support for the Israeli peace movement and the beleaguered Palestinians will be boosted by a day of action in London on Sunday 9 November against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and Sharon's "Separation Wall".
It has been called by the International Solidarity Movement, Just Peace UK and Jews for Justice for Palestinians.
10am: meet at Golders Green clock tower.
1.30pm: Covent Garden, corner of Long Acre and St Martin's Lane.
3pm: Trafalgar Square. At 4pm: watch the wall come down!
7pm : A talk and discussion evening at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, Thornhaugh St, WC1, with Jeff Halper, Eyal Weizman and Karma Nabulsi.
