Did Olmert Even See the Pro-Peace Protests?

[We asked cousins Mimi Asnes and Ben Keller to cover yesterday's peace conference at Annapolis, Mimi from the outside and Ben from within. Read all their coverage here.]

While Chabadniks danced and sang Hanukkah songs and protested Annapolis at Gate One, a very different kind of demonstration was going on in Annapolis; a demonstration supporting the Bush administration and the Israeli government, alongside the Israeli and Palestinian people. Nine progressive Jewish organizations united to present an hour-plus-long program of speeches, chants and songs (“If I Had a Hammer” by Pete Seeger and “Down By the Riverside” were crowd favorites.) “We did it in a week because we didn’t have any longer, and we were able to pull together people from New York, Rhode Island, Colorado, DC, Israel,” said Tammy Shapiro, director of the Union of Progressive Zionists and MC of the rally. “There were a hundred people there representing the thousands who weren’t able to make it.” Wait—people came from Israel for to demonstrate in Annapolis? “We had Mossi Raz (former head of Shalom Achshav and MK from Meretz) and Gavri Bar Gil who is the head of the Peace Movement and another former director of Peace Now,” she added. These two came for five days specifically for Annapolis and to raise awareness about the Geneva Initiative. Another Israeli civil society activist was Eyal Raviv from MePeace, which he describes as “the MySpace of Middle East peacemaking.” There was also an unaffiliated continent of teachers who showed up specifically to call out Olmert on his domestic education policy—they had a truck driving around with a sign that said, “Ehud fled to Annapolis” (and away from his domestic obligations). While the pro-Annapolis rally was held far from the Academy itself, the demonstrators were right in the path of the motorcade of the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and staged a showing of signs with (pre-approved) slogans for when he was scheduled to pass. Did Olmert see the demonstrators? One student claimed that “he passed by the people who were holding signs before the rally.” “We saw a motorcade pass by” that was close enough to see the signs, another added; the demonstrators remained hopeful that Olmert who was scheduled to be at a nearby building, was there for lunch at the Governor’s Mansion. Even days before Annapolis, the Progressive rally was in peril after having their permit to demonstrate in public shot down by the Secret Service. Luckily, the Chief of Police and a local parish at St. Anne’s teamed up to help the grassroot activits secure a location that might make a difference. Despite these regulatory confusions, the group was happy with the outcome of the rally. “We spoke to lots of press from TV, newspapers and radios,” said Shapiro. “We had been told that there were only permits for 30 people at the gate and we wanted more. But we didn’t want it to be a competition or a fight, distinguished for other things going on. It would have been nice to be closer. We could be positive without having to respond to someone and have our own message. And we were closer to Olmert and where he was—our message was for him, and Bush, and the American and Israeli public.” In terms of what can be gained from Annapolis, Meretz USA chair Charney Bromberg told us that the “best case scenario is that precisely what was presented today in the signed statement that Israelis and Pal endorsed, initiation of ongoing negotiation through December the 12th with full working committees on each of the four major issues will be underway. One of things Meretz most proud of is that Geneva was the branchild of Yossi Beilin, leader of Meretz in Israel. We know that PM Olmert’s neg team has been closely studying the Geneva Agreements and Legislative history. We can take the Geneva Initiative as a “dress rehearsal of what parties will ultimately come out with.” Bromberg’s conclusion was that “however frightening the record of the Bush Administration has been in pursuing things they shouldn’t have pursued and ignoring things they shouldn’t have ignored, they still represent the US which is the gravitational source of political direction in the world.” This is perhaps why he began his speech today in Annapolis by asking repeatedly, “can you hear me?” After a couple of go-rounds he noted that he wasn’t asking for a shoutout; he simply actually wanted the leaders to be listening.