Group to protest Mideast conflict

YOUNGSTOWN -- A group of local women calling for a more balanced approach by the U.S. government to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians was to meet at noon today in front of the federal courthouse, 120 Market St.
The group said it plans to protest the "illegal 35-year-old military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, and the current ferocious attack on Palestinian society."
Spokeswoman Martha Katz said the group, Women in Black, deplores all violence and terrorism in the conflict, and is patterned after a group of Israeli and Palestinian women who have demonstrated weekly in Jerusalem and other cities around the world since the first Intifadah (Palestinian uprising) began in 1987.
Today's demonstration was to be the first for the local group.
Katz invited other interested women and men to join Women in Black for today's and future Friday demonstrations. For more information, call Katz at (330) 743-5602.