LOS ANGELES (July 25)— Young people dressed in military fatigues with Israeli

flag pasted to their helmets, startle on-lookers as they enter the crosswalk,

with their cardboard M-16’ s raised.

Handing flyers to drivers stopped at a red light, the soldiers reveal that

they are members of Jews for a Just Peace (LA-JJP), staging street theater.

"Imagine you are one of 1,000s of Palestinians trying to cross one of the 100

Check-points sealing off the West Bank," the leaflet reads with a map

pointing out the locations.

On the sidewalk, nearly 200 Jewish, Muslim and Christian supporters chant,

"No more US dollars to kill Palestinian children." They are outside the

Israeli consulate to condemn Israel’s bombing of a densely populated Gaza

neighborhood and 35 years of occupation of Palestinian territories.

Waving Israeli flags several dozen counter-protesters across the street and

behind yellow police-tape, angrily shout, "Traders," "Self-Hating Jews," Death to Arabs."

"As a daughter of a Jewish family that survived the holocaust, I believe that

it is my duty to voice my dissent to the actions of the Israel," explained

Yael Korin an Israeli-born LA-JJP organizer. "We are constructing this

checkpoint today to draw attention to the daily humiliations that

Israel inflicts on the over three million Palestinians. "

"Like the F-16 air strikes that killed more than a dozen innocents in Gaza,

the checkpoints that Israel has used to divide and conquer the Palestinian

territories are all funded by our tax dollars," said Barry Trachtenberg, a

spokesperson for LA-JJP. "We urge the American government to stop

military aid to Israel.

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