U.S. support for Israel condemned

JAKARTA (JP): Moslem students yesterday staged a demonstration outside the United States embassy condemning Washington for its support of the Israeli military offensive against Lebanon.

The 50 placard-waving members of the Communication Forum for Islamic University Students then marched to and staged a demonstration outside the United Nations building.

A similar demonstration also took place on the campus of the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology yesterday.

Some 100 students shouted and condemned the United States and Israel; the event ended with a prayer for those who have died in the recent offensives.

The Jakartan students managed to deliver a written statement to the embassy security officer, in which they called the U.S. and Israel "abusers of human rights."

As the students marched to the United Nations building, police moved in and confiscated their banners and posters.

"We don't care about your statements, split up," a police officer told the students.

Meanwhile, the Bandung branch of the Association of Islamic University Students issued a statement yesterday declaring war against Israel. It demanded that the U.S. stop calling itself the world's peacemaker, and stop expressing enmity toward Moslems.

Many people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, are becoming victims of Israeli aggression as troops attacked villages with artillery and air raids for a 13th consecutive day yesterday, while Hizbollah hit Israel with fresh salvos of Katyusha rockets, despite Israel's efforts to stop them.

In the village of Cana in south Lebanon, Israel massacred about 100 civilians and wounded hundreds at a UN base last week.

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres has told the Knesset, the country's parliament, that the operation -- intended to curb Hizbollah and stop it shelling northern Israel -- had no time limit. (31/17)