By Emile Schepers

CHICAGO - In a biting wind off Lake Michigan, scores of Arabs, Jews and others rallied April 4 next to the offices of the Chicago Tribune to denounce the escalating violence of the Israeli security forces against the Palestinian people.

The demonstration was called by the Committee for a Democratic Palestine, the Arab-American Action Network and other mostly Palestinian-American organizations here, but was strongly supported by the Jewish organization "Not in My Name" as well as by the American Friends Service Committee, the National Lawyers Guild-Chicago Chapter and others.

Speakers condemned the escalating brutality of the Israeli security forces and the continued policy of the administration of George W. Bush of backing this violence.

Jennifer Bing-Canar of the Chicago office of the Friends Service Committee, just back from a trip to the occupied territories, sharply denounced the Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes. Although Israel says that these demolitions are carried out as a security measure, she said, it is clear when you see them that their real purpose is to keep the Palestinian population corralled into small, easy-to-control areas while the Jewish settlements keep expanding around them.

Ali Abunimah, of the Arab-American Action Network, decried the slaughter of children that is resulting from the U.S.-backed Israeli policies. He pointed out that many more Palestinian than Israeli children have been killed, but this is downplayed in the media.

"Killing of children by either side is unacceptable" said Abunimah. "I believe Israeli parents love their children just as much as Palestinian parents do," he said. Abunimah added that children in Palestine both Jewish and Arab can only be raised in peace and safety when the occupation ends.