29 July 2016

There was a very receptive crowd on Friday evening in Rundle Mall for Protest 299 despite the presence of an assortment of Christian Zionists, one of whom was up to his old tricks writing slogans in chalk on the Mall pavement. It does seem extraordinary that the Adelaide City Council tolerates this behaviour and that their cleaners have to clean up his mess.

There was an unusually large number of people photographing us. Not all of them seemed benign. Using cameras in an attempt to harass and intimidate us is a tactic the Zionists used to employ against us quite frequently in the first few years of the protests. It does seem a bit outdated now.

Our success is the many conversations we have with passers-by. [Photos: M. Cassar, AFOPA]

The protest ended on a high note for Abbas. A young Israeli man came up to Abbas and told him not to worry about the Christian Zionists. It seems that the young man assumed Abbas was Palestinian and wanted to apologise for his government's behaviour towards the Palestinians. The young Israeli then shook Abbas' hand and hugged him. We are certain there are many Israelis in his position looking forward to a just peace in Israel-Palestine with equal rights for all.

Thank you everyone for your support.

Margaret.