UW-Madison students will be among thousands expected to rally in Washington, D.C. Monday to show their support for Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. A group of students will leave Sunday for the rally where U.S. Congress members and prominent Israeli figures will be in attendance.
The UW-Madison Hillel will be sponsoring two buses, leaving from Madison Sunday evening, to the Israel Solidarity rally. According to the rally's Web site, their theme is \solidarity with Israel as it defends itself against terror and violence, and support for the campaign against global terrorism.""
""We want to mobilize pro-Israel students on campus to feel like a part of the larger pro-Israel community in the United States,"" said Josh Schwartz, program associate at Hillel.
The rally follows a week of movements on college campuses across the United States in which students voiced their support for both sides of the Middle East conflict. UW-Madison students rallied for both sides Wednesday, drawing a crowd of about 300.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Israel late Thursday, with plans of meeting with both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Hours before Powell arrived, the Israeli army entered two more West Bank towns and began withdrawing from a dozen villages in Palestinian territories, Reuters reported.
Micah Bycel, a UW-Madison senior who will be going to the D.C. rally this weekend, said he thought it was important to support peace and Israel at the same time.
""I really think that peace is our goal at hand,"" Bycel said.
The Madison Israel Public Affairs Committee, of which Bycel is also a member, is Hillel's pro-Israel organization that works to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Israel through advocacy, activism and education on campus, according to UW-Madison junior Rick Woolman, president of Mad-PAC.
""Our main objective is to create a better understanding of the situation and the viewpoints coming from someone who supports Israel,"" Woolman said.
Although Woolman will not attend the rally, he said a small part of Mad-PAC will, which will bring ""together a myriad of Jewish voices and Jewish people throughout the nation to unite in these turbulent times.""
""My understanding is that there will be leaders of Congress, as well as some prominent Israeli figures that will be speaking,"" Woolman said.
""We feel it is important to support Israel, and have unity, and show Israelis that American Jews support them.""
Members of Mad-PAC would like to see an independent, sovereign state of Israel peacefully coexisting with an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, Woolman said.
""We are a group that is trying to say that there's two sides to this conflict,"" he said.
Schwartz said he expected trip participation, the cost of which is $10, to be at maximum capacity of 60 by today.
