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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/13670/full/13670/israeli-war-of-public-opinion-spans-political-spectrum/ <br /><br /> <b>Israeli war of public opinion spans political spectrum</b> <br /> Friday, July 21, 2000 | by <p>NAOMI SEGAL </p> <br /><br /><p>JERUSALEM—Left- and right-wing activists clashed over the weekend here during massive, public efforts to convey their respective stances regarding the Camp David summit negotiations.<br /><br /> Jewish settlers and their supporters held a mass rally Sunday in Tel Aviv to protest any concessions Prime Minister Ehud Barak considered making to the Palestinians during the summit. Some 1,500 police officers were stationed in the area to secure the event, which drew an estimated tens of thousands.<br /><br /> On the other side of the political divide, Israelis supporting Barak's peace efforts formed a convoy of cars traveling over the weekend from Tel Aviv to Haifa.<br /><br /> Activists from the left and right were posted at major intersections in Israel over the weekend, handing out bumper stickers and bearing banners with their respective messages.<br /><br /> In the West Bank town of Hebron, the scene of frequent clashes over the years, divisions between Jewish settlers and Palestinians erupted Sunday into curses and blows during the second day of conflict there. At least one person was hospitalized.<br /><br /> Settlers said the fighting began a day earlier when a Palestinian attempted to sexually assault a 14-year-old Jewish girl. Palestinian officials denied the charge, calling it a pretext by settlers hoping to see the Camp David summit fail.<br /><br /> In another development involving settlers Sunday, Israeli police dragged away dozens of young Jewish settlers from a West Bank hilltop where they had erected a tent to protest the summit.<br /><br /> Organizers of the protest, many of them teenagers, said their action was taken independently of the mainstream Yesha Council, which represents settlers from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.<br /><br /> Also Sunday in Jerusalem, right-wing Israeli political leaders met at the urging of Mayor Ehud Olmert to come up with a strategy to counter what they claim is Barak's willingness to divide the city.<br /><br /> Among those present were the leaders of the National Religious Party and the fervently religious Shas Party, who until last week served as ministers in Barak's government.<br /><br /> President Clinton "must understand that the majority of the people of Israel is congregated here, against the division of Jerusalem," said Shas leader Eli Yishai. "This message must go directly to Camp David, the prime minister and the members of the delegations."<br /><br /> Likud Knesset member Danny Naveh told Israel Radio that Barak's declaration that he would never abandon the idea of a united Jerusalem at Camp David is misleading.<br /><br /> "What he does not tell the public is his plan to transfer certain [Arab] neighborhoods within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries to Palestinian municipal control," said Naveh, who claimed that this would "begin a process of division of the city."<br /><br /> These claims were rejected by Haim Ramon, minister of the cabinet.<br /><br /> "The prime minister has no intention of dividing Jerusalem. There is an absolute commitment that Jerusalem will remain united under Israeli sovereignty," Ramon told Israel Radio. "I am convinced that this red line will not be crossed."<br /><br /> For more JTA stories, go to <a href="http://www.jta.org">http://www.jta.org</a></p> <p> </p>

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