TA rally: Settlement freeze not enforced
Hundreds protest continued construction in West Bank; Meretz chief says Barak a cover for 'anti-peace forces'
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Tel Aviv Cinematheque Saturday evening in protest of the fact that construction in the West Bank settlements has not been completely halted despite the government's decision on a 10-month construction moratorium.
During the rally Labor Knesset Member Eitan Cabel criticized his fellow party members for not demanding that the building freeze be enforced, calling them "junkies of governance".
Meretz Chairman Chaim Oron said that by supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Labor party chief and Defense Minister Ehud Barak "will be responsible for the great disaster that will befall us.
"You are a cover for the forces that are fighting peace," Oron said of Barak.
'PM backing zealots.' Rally in TA (Photo: Yaron Brener)
Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer told the rally that Barak was committed to the "well-being of every settler," is working towards promoting "peace between (Foreign Minister Avigdor) Lieberman's party (Yisrael Beitenu) and Shas," establishing a university in Ariel (West Bank town) and "destroying the leftist camp".
New Israel Fund President Naomi Chazan, a former MK who has been accused of providing information to the United Nations investigation into Israel's military offensive in Gaza last winter, said Netanyahu is supporting the "zealots" who she claimed have "waged war" on the human rights groups in Israel.
"They want an obedient society; they dream of an Israeli without the High Court of Justice and B'Tselem; without people who want peace and demand social justice," she told the cheering crowd.
"Bibi, beware, democracy will collapse under your watch. You are responsible," she said.
