WASHINGTON DC - Ariel Sharon did not appear at the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Conference at the Washington Hilton. Nonetheless, the April 22 protest in support of the Palestinian cause continued. 1,000 participated in what was essentially a street party from 3:30pm till past 8:30pm on Connecticut Avenue between Leroy Street and Florida Avenue.

Earlier in the day there were about 37 arrests at the Capitol bringing the total number of arrests during the weekdnd of protests up to 98. Activists sat down at entrances and linked arms protesting Plan Colombia. But, like the protests against IMF/World policies, the protests about US policy in Latin America took a back seat to that of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Tom Christian, a Baltimore resident who also participated in the November protests against the "Patriot Act" and the bombing of Afghanistan at the Federal Courthouse in Port City, criticized the role of the United States as "very poor, showing disrespect toward Arafat, Palestinians, and the Arab people as a whole." Christain thought it would "go a long way" if the U.S. worked to build up trust by moving the Israeli government to "stop the bombing and to pull out of the Palestinian territories."

Christian's sentiment was shared by the 75,000 who protested on Saturday April 20. Tariq Ali, author of The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity, spoke at Johns Hopkins University April 17 about the situation in the Middle East and the U.S. "war against terrorism." Towards the end of his talk Ali said that "a lot depends on you ... citizens of this empire [United States imperialist state]." Ali was present at the Palestinian protest in front of the Hilton. He said he had participated in the protest on April 20 and "was pleased with the turnout." (For information on Tariq Ali's book visit www.versobooks.com/books/ab/ali_t_fundamentalisms.shtml ).

The street protest, officially permitted until 8:00pm, had the character of a 'permitted' Reclaim the Streets protest. Connecticut Avenue was closed down during rush hour. Chants of "Free, free Palestine" and "Israel out of Palestine, Israel out of Washington" were accompanied by disperse and autonomously organized mobile protests, street theater, flag burnings, and symbolic barricades.

About 100 protesters, many in black attire with bandanas, moved around to 20th and Florida near Visions Cinema where a police barricade to ensure the movement of AIPAC participants was set-up. Some moments were tense, but no direct confrontation occurred. However, an amusing confrontation occurred prior to this event. A circle of anarchist-looking protesters was being observed by a large, plain-clothed cop of African descent wearing a red t-shirt and black pants. He was quickly surrounded by a smaller group of activists who surrounded him with songs like a pied piper moving him away from the larger circle.

Street theater enacted a scene symbolic of the situation of Palestinians in the Israeli occupied territories. A puppet tank with the bumper sticker "Honk if you love apartheid" along with similar cardboard constructions representing Apache helicopters, F-16 fighter-bombers, and Caterpillar bulldozers responded to "Palestinians" who had thrown paper "rocks," killing all the unarmed rock-throwers. But then a larger group of "Palestinians" surrounded the cardboard images of U.S. supplied military equipment used by the Israeli government, defeating them. Chants of "Free, free Palestinian" rang out.

A circle of activists formed, some wearing black bandanas, some the Palestinian scarf. Though the wind initially presented a problem, flags of the state of Israel and the United States went up in flames to chants of "Free Palestine" and "Intifada, Intifada."

Finally, as the permitted time for the street protest ran out, protesters rolled out a make-shift fence against Bancroft Street and Connecticut Avenue, apparently in response to the movement of police down Bancroft. Whether the police first made the move, or protesters first moved out the fence, matters less than the symbolism of the stand-off. The Gaza Strip is completely surrounded by fence. It is at these fences where Palestinians regularly encounter Israeli soldiers. And, it is Ariel Sharon's proposal that within such fenced-in areas, Palestinian areas be established.

But, why would the Washington DC police respond with 40 or more officers to a symbolic fence? A stand-off ensued for about 30 minutes. The media was there in considerable numbers. Lawyers from the protest's legal team negotiated. Eventually, DC police chief Ramsey said "it was just confusion. Everything's cool." Finally, the protesters backed off and as they backed off were surrounded by other protesters as they rolled up the fence. At the same time, the police backed off.

I asked a couple of anarchist looking activists "what is it between the police and protesters dressed in black?" A man in black, but no bandana, from Baltimore said "black is very slimming and fashionable." A woman in black with a red bandana from New York City observed that "the police wouldn't know we were anarchists if we didn't wear black." Well, maybe we should all be wearing black these days. Really has anyone observed a black-attired anarchist operating an Apache helicopter, or a F-16, or a tank, threatening an unarmed people.