Palestinian Protesters Dress As 'Avatar' Characters (PHOTOS)

(AP) JERUSALEM -- Palestinian protesters have added a colorful twist to demonstrations against Israel's separation barrier, painting themselves blue and posing as characters from the hit film "Avatar."

The demonstrators also donned long hair and loincloths Friday for the weekly protest against the barrier near the village of Bilin.

They equated their struggle to the intergalactic one portrayed in the film.

Israel says the barrier is needed for its security. Palestinians consider it a land grab.

The protests have become a symbol of opposition. They often end in clashes with Israeli security forces involving stones and tear gas.

The "Avatar" protest comes a day after the Israeli government began rerouting the enclosure to eat up less of the Palestinian village.

• • • • • Protesters in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem

Comments

[SukiTheCat]

01:59 PM on 02/16/2010

That is pretty cool

[Ilana Teitelbaum]

01:12 PM on 02/16/2010

A shame: That this article doesn't mention the hundreds of Israelis who took part in this protest alongside the Palestinians.

The pictured picket sign -- "End the Occupation" -- is in Hebrew.

[tiredofwaiting]

05:36 PM on 02/22/2010

The link below is a play I've written which benefits Grassroots Jerusalem - co-founded by Micha Kurtz, an Israeli:)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/402359860/the-land

[Matt D Aguiar]

09:38 AM on 02/16/2010

“According to the theater critic for the Jerusalem Post, "Blue Man Group is the must-see theater event in an otherwise dismal season of middle-eastern drama."”

[hottpotat0]

09:09 PM on 02/15/2010

You who are pro Zionist state on this issue...
Israel should not exist as a state-Israel ceased to exist in 66 AD when Rome invaded and 4 years later sealed the deal by Destroying the center of Judaism KING HERROD'S TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
Israeli's took the lands by force! in fact Most of the IAF's fliers over the entire War of Independence period, some 70 percent, were overseas volunteers from 15 different countries.
the lands were taken by force or swindled through straw purchases by supposed Palestinian benefactors

i mean how would you like it if the Chinese funded, supplied arms and weapons as well as manned the tanks and jet planes to help Native Americans evict by force ...white anglo -saxons and whoever else they thought was on land that rightfully belonged to them because their GOD says so?
would American's fight back? would they suicide bomb?
Israe’ls manifest destiny stinks-Israel was not invited to set up a country by all who lived in the area pre 1948!

Israel’s sole purpose is
[1] become recognized as a nation
[2] gain total control of Jerusalem
[3] gain control of the temple mount
[4] break the will of its Islamic neighbors so they are no longer a threat
[5] REBUILD HEROD'S TEMPLE so blood sacrifices and burnt offerings may resume for the forgiveness of Israel’s sins as a nation by their God YHWH

the situation is ungodly

[michael429]

10:19 AM on 02/15/2010

interesting...the Palestinians are finally learning how to use positive P.R....it's ironic that portraying themselves in non-human images will do more to humanize them than anything i can recall....this is very cool....maybe the stupid movie was good for something after all.....

[MIKEinNYC]

09:32 AM on 02/15/2010

Protesting until they're blue-in-the-face.

[hottpotat0]

04:53 AM on 02/15/2010

To the zionists out there...
the Jewish people not too long ago were ghettoized and killed by Germany! why do you do to others what you abhor being done to you?
Sanhedrin law forbids these actions!
Rabbi Hillel stated "That which is hateful to you do not do not others" was enunciated as the quintessence of Jewish teaching.
you have created a stumbling to your God for the world to see.

[chaimschwartz]

09:23 AM on 02/15/2010

the Israelis have no plans to exterminate the Arabs! In fact, by their charters..the Arabs plan to exterminate the Israeli Jews!

[hottpotat0]

09:54 AM on 02/15/2010

never said ISRAEL planned on exterminating anybody-they just want the Arabs out of the way so Israel can build their temple(add emphasis)

[phute]

10:08 AM on 02/15/2010

chaimschwartz - and how are they going to achieve this?
Against the world's 4th largest military with a nuclear capacity of over 250 warheads.
I mean - you must have the answer.
And leave the existential nonsense out of it.

[michael429]

10:32 AM on 02/15/2010

Zionism is not judaism....it has nothing to do with religion....just an excuse like "Manifest Destiny"....i still think the answer to all of this is to relocate the Israelis to West Virginia...there is ample room to absorb the population and the economy of that state would go from being one of the worst in the country to a thriving and vibrant one.....The Brits and the UN missed the big opportunity to have located the state of Israel in Germany after WWII ......it could have been justified as reparations for the atrocities committed against the Jewish people....instead they put it in one of the worst neighborhoods on the planet and unlawfully seized the land and homes of people that had nothing to do with the holocaust.....The same Brits that sowed the seeds of the current problem in Iran when they talked Eisenhower into using the CIA to overthrow the Iranian government and then proceeded to purchase the oil rights for BP from a corrupt Iranian for $15,000....non of this excuses the needless violence on all sides...but it does explain much of it.

[hottpotat0]

04:44 AM on 02/15/2010

to the Christians and the Jews this whole thing about trying to rebuild the temple so Jesus comes back is covering your hands and hearts with the blood of innocents and polarizing the world,creating a stumbling block to peace and harmony-are you all that blind to your ambitions???

AMOS 5:18
"Woe to you who long
for the day of the LORD!
Why do you long for the day of the LORD ?
That day will be darkness, not light." N.I.V

modern Christians have been brainwashed-to do evil in the name of good or God is doing the devils work-Jesus wouldn't bomb the Palestinians,Iraq,Iran Afghanistan etc etc-most Christians are pew warmers and have it all wrong-What would Jesus do-should be the motto to all believers in the Christian faith-no Allegiance to any man country flag business institution... an Allegiance to LOVE

[NTT]

07:57 AM on 02/15/2010

"no allegiance to any man country flag business institution..." I don't think that this would make one a good Christian; but no doubt it would make one a good Jihadist.

[hottpotat0]

09:22 AM on 02/15/2010

you miss the whole point of the message and fixate on a small part of it instead-cant see the forest through the tree's NTT

[rtb61]

12:16 AM on 02/15/2010

Of course Israel can not have security without a fence. I mean, what kind of concentration camp doesn't have prison walls to keep the inmates locked in. The struggle continues for the end of religious apartheid in Palestine.

[NTT]

06:39 AM on 02/15/2010

Same old, same old. Substituting rants laced with nazi imagery and empty rhetoric for facts and logical argumentation. It does not work on me.

Blockade is a legal and legitimate war tactic. Nothing to do with concentration camps - outside, that is of empty rhetoric.

The fence really hurts Hamas: since its erection, the terror attacks in Israel (i.e. brainwashed Palestinians blowing themselves up in Israeli CIVILIAN restaurants, shops and buses) decreased to near zero. Very bad - for them.

[Londoncall]

08:26 AM on 02/15/2010

No, it doesn't hurt Hamas, that's illogical. The more inhumanely you treat people, the more extremist they will become in their attitudes - that is a normal human reaction. If the Israelis really wanted to hurt Hamas, they would ease the blockade, improve people's lives and finances and encourage and support moderate future leaders instead of imprisoning and assassinating them.
I know Northern Ireland doesn't compare that much with the Middle East, but one successful strategy of the British government was to recognise future leaders in Adams and McGuinness and to support them and give them time to work in their community.
Having Hamas there suits Israel very well, as it gives it the excuse to do what they like to the beleaguered Palestinians.
I would add that Hamas also benefit financially from the blockade by taxing the smugglers whose work bringing in necessities for the population is only necessary because of the blockade.

[rtb61]

11:29 PM on 02/15/2010

Interesting, it is Israeli government that has all the power and control, and yet somehow it is all the Palestinians fault. Perhaps the British should have used the tactics employed by the Israeli government against a bunch of European refugees, earlier on in the piece and then we wouldn't have this problem today. Perhaps the Israelis can learn from the lesson drawn from the Irish experience, violence and lies will not resolve the issue, only continue it. From the rest of the world's point it will always be the controlling regimes fault. Israel created the problem, Israel profits by it and, it is Israel's fault (do not blame your victims for their desire for revenge).

[HappyMarsden]

11:20 PM on 02/14/2010

See, if only one amongst them would have had the brilliant idea to -film- themselves before Cameron had the idea, they would have been 2.5 billion dollars richer. Enough to buy their own country and stop trying to steal Israel's.

[Wisdo]

04:44 AM on 02/15/2010

SO the Palestinians are setting up Settlements on Israeli land? Wow here was I thinking it was the other way around along with the UN, the US, the EU and most Israelis.

I wonder why they impose curfews and checkpoints on themselves and have so many roadblocks preventing vehicular access to their own towns and villages.

[HappyMarsden]

05:58 PM on 02/15/2010

“SO the Palestinians are setting up Settlements on Israeli land? “

Yes. You should first learn the basics before you think to debate the issue.
The West Bank and Gaza Strip are officially Israeli territories.

“I wonder why they impose curfews and checkpoints on themselves and have so
many roadblocks preventing vehicular access to their own towns and villages.”

Oh boy. I can see I really have to start at point zero with you. These two Israeli territories are
populated by Israelis, but the sworn enemy of Israelis, Palestinians. They’re like squatters in a tenement slum. Israeli’s have been very gracious to allow them to stay on their land. See, that’s why there is conflict over it. You give these people an inch, and they take a mile. West Bank and Gaza will always belong to Israel, no two ways about that. And I can see why they would not want their sworn enemies residing on their own territory.

[StephBr]

05:29 PM on 02/15/2010

You need to grab a history book, you are missing a few points here.

[HappyMarsden]

05:59 PM on 02/15/2010

Actually, you do. Try to find out where the Jews went right after WW2, then see if you can learn about what happened in 67.

[urnumbersix]

10:45 PM on 02/14/2010

Too cool. Can't override THAT image! That's history, baby.

[Nuala]

10:31 PM on 02/14/2010

It is Israel that occupies and destroys Palestine on a daily basis. Anything happens after that is all Israel's fault, because occupation itself is wrong to begin with. It's that simple. Nothing more to argue about.

[NTT]

08:02 AM on 02/15/2010

"Nothing more to argue about". And a fist slammed down. How typical!

[TAIsabel]

09:05 PM on 02/14/2010

I found "District 9" to be a more appropo movie to this subject but, hey, anything that will bring attention to this deplorable situation the Palestinians are living in, is fine by me.

[jusgimmeafreakinusername]

08:43 PM on 02/14/2010

freedom for palestine

[Ric NYC]

01:21 AM on 02/16/2010

Free Palestine!

[crimson]

08:36 PM on 02/14/2010

Dan Senor of Council on Foreign Relations has written a good book called Start Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle. The book argues that US can learn a lot from the Economic success of Israel. It makes a good case that Israel doesn't need the annual handout of $3 Billion from the US anymore.

[jusgimmeafreakinusername]

08:40 PM on 02/14/2010

good. you can oppress the natives and commit war crimes without my tax dollars.

[FairuzGhowar]

05:46 AM on 02/15/2010

yes! disarm them both! let them wrestle much less collateral damage