NECDP leads protest agaisnt "Boston Celebrates Israel" June 19, 2005, Boston Government Center. (AP photo)
Associated Press coverage of NECDP's June 19, 2005 protest against "Boston Celebrates Israel":
"Protesters greet hundreds celebrating Israel's 57th anniversary
June 19, 2005
BOSTON --For the fourth straight year, protesters greeted hundreds of people who gathered
Sunday on Boston's City Hall Plaza to celebrate the 57th anniversary of Israel's independence.
Several dozen members of the New England Committee to Defend Palestine stood near the
entrance to the celebration and chanted anti-Israeli slogans.
A line of police officers separated the protesters as over 1,000 people marched to City Hall
Plaza from a pro-Israel rally at Copley Plaza. Police later moved the protesters to a different
part of the plaza, but no arrests were immediately reported.
Alan Ronkin, deputy director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said the protesters
represent the "most extreme elements" of the pro-Palestinian movement.
"We're very proud that Israel remains an oasis of democracy in a sea of hatred and intolerance
in the Middle East," he added.But the protesters said the anniversary isn't cause for celebration
for the thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes in the fighting that followed Israel's
independence in 1948.
"This is a social justice issue for the freedom of the Palestinian people," said Lana Habash, 36,
of Somerville. "We're here to protest people celebrating racism, apartheid and genocide."
Joining the protest was a group of Orthodox Jews from New York, who held signs that read,
"Torah Forbids a Jewish State." "Palestinian people never had a problem with Jews before
Zionism," said Rabbi Dovid Feldman, of Monsey, N.Y."