Saturday, January 18, 2003 across the United States, hundreds of thousands of citizens gathered to prevent escalating violence in the Middle East.
     In San Francisco, 125,000 women, men, and youth filled the street from the Bay to City Hall.
     Preferring that the United States not begin a preemptive war against the government and people of Iraq, Palestinians and Jews in San Francisco walked together to reject violence, and affirm Dialogue and citizen creativity, in a spirit of goodwill.
     For many of us, it was the first march of our lives.  Our activity is usually in homes and more traditional places.
     We made ourselves visible in the most positive way, to help lift the nation up.
     We regretted that the day was on the Jewish Sabbath, and that some were not be physically present but were there in spirit.
     We were Palestinians, Jews, and Supportive Others marching together peacefully and with mutual respect.
     Although to many the march was *against* war against Iraq, we were also walking *for* something, as communicated by our SPIRT and by signs like:

 and . . .       

         BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, NOT WEAPONS
         JEWS AND PALESTINIANS WORKING TOGETHER FOR PEACE      
         LISTEN TO EACH OTHER
         DIALOGUE GROUPS - NOT MILITARY TROOPS
         WORKING TOGETHER - NEIGHBORS FOREVER
         BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

     You can see photographs of the day and the people, on the Web at:

https://pix.sfly.com/wqm5HmTv