Israeli-Palestinian Protest - dinner in a war zone!

When John and Susan visited San Francisco they thought they would enjoy a romantic dinner for two.

But they didn't realise they had chosen a table in the middle of a mini Israeli-Palestinian war zone!

However, this friendly couple from Santa Cruz were unfazed last night as they sat in a hotel restaurant almost opposite the Israeli Consulate.

'We're eating calmly away, disregarding the rest of the world!' quipped John, as only a thin pane of glass separated him and Susan

from a seething tide of loud-chanting, banner-waving, drum thumping protesters decrying Israel's action in Gaza.

More than that, as the pics show, John and Susan virtually sat in on the incident of police questioning a drummer over the use of his hammer!

What did they think of the protest?

'Obama's got enough on his plate,' said John, unaware of his unintentioned pun. 'It's like a movie, one thing after another...the economic crisis, the Middle East blowing up...'

But then he reverted to a positive point.

'At least he (Obama) believes in diplomacy rather than shooting from the hip!'

And at least, too, with such a large slice of San Franciscan life, they were not suffering from indigestion.

A Happy and Peaceful New Year, John and Susan!

For an album of more pics click here

Israeli Palestinian Protests at Israeli Consulate (3)

After over an hour of rumbustious shouting outside of the Isrsaeli Consulate (see previous blogs) protest leaders gathered their large banners and lined up across Montgomery Street.

Then they processed slowly down towards Market Street, hundreds of people falling in behind them still chanting, banging drums, waving placards and dancing in the street.

Among the crowd were people in wheelchairs, children and the occasional baby in a pram.

Police motorcyclists with sirens blaring drove down the sidewalk to get ahead of the procession and police and news helicopters criss-crossed in the night sky.

On Market Street, the main thoroughfare through the city, the procession stretched for about half a mile, bringing traffic, trams and buses to a halt. Many passengers could be seen disembarking from buses, deciding to continue their journey by other means.

Half-way along the route, Amro Jay, caught up with me. Originally from Ramalla with family still living there, he is one of the organizers with the Palestinian Solidarity Committee from Chico, in northern California.

Referring to the bombing of Gaza, he said, 'Collective punishment should not at any time be acceptable.'

As for the crowds around him, he said, 'I think it's great, and the Palestinian cause could always use more people.'

Not only more people it seems, but four-legged friends as well. Mimi - 'she's a mutt,' said her mum happily - was seen padding down the street with her own protest banner of 'Free Palestine' attached to her lead.

By 7 pm, about an hour after leaving the Consulate, the crowd wound into the United Nations Plaza at the Civic Center by which time some were beginning to depart.

For album of more pics click here

pics show: Mimi; a group dancing on top of one of structures in the middle of the street; crowds pouring down the middle of Market Street and passing a large mobile police unit; trolleys and buses lined up on the street