While leading Florida politicians on both sides of the aisle were lending their support for Israel in rallies this Thanksgiving weekend, about 50 pro-Palestinian activists held forth Saturday afternoon at the corner of Fowler and 56th Street in Temple Terrace.
Although official hostilities between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas party ended earlier in the week when a cease-fire was negotiated, tensions remain tense in the Middle East after the worst outbreak of violence there in nearly four years ago.
On Friday in Sarasota, hundreds came out in support of Israel.
While no public officials were in attendance, Governor Rick Scott, Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio and Congressman Vern Buchanan all wrote letters of support for Israel, which were read aloud to the crowd. Rubio and South Florida Democratic Congresswoman and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz were also scheduled to speak at a pro-Israeli government rally on Sunday in North Miami Beach.
But in Temple Terrace, activists were split between calling for peace in the region and declaring it unacceptable that the Israeli government (with U.S. consent) continues to allow an economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, which began in 2007 and has only been slightly loosened since then.
This article appears in Nov 22-28, 2012.