Israelis have turned out into the streets of Jerusalem this week by the thousands as U.S. President George W. Bush visits the capital city. Residents of Jerusalem are demanding to be heard and demonstrators advocating the preservation of Jerusalem and the continued building of Jerusalem neighborhoods flocked in record numbers to express their opposition to the current Israeli leadership.

Demonstrators	Political Posters

Israeli activist group "Women in Green" hosted a rally Tuesday evening in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa. Over 10,000 participants crowded into a muddy construction site at the entrance of Har Homa to express their devotion to the continued building of Israel's capital city. Demonstrators held posters saying that Israel was not the private property of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and that President George Bush had no right to tell Israel what to do with their own land. The "Women in Green" made it explicitly clear that Israel is the Jewish homeland and Jerusalem is the Jewish capital and they were going to continue building Jewish neighborhoods on Jewish land.

More Demonstrators	Olmert Posters

Har Homa is a Jewish neighborhood on the south west corner of Jerusalem. The more than 25,000 residents of Har Homa have a spectacular view of Jerusalem and Bethlehem as the community is nestled neatly beside the "Shepherd's Fields” of Bethlehem. The growing neighborhood has been under construction since the late 1990s and is a political sore spot in the peace process. It has been called an "illegal outpost" in many of the political debates between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the United States is requiring Israel to cease construction on "illegal outposts" as a condition of the "road map" for peace. Local Jerusalem residents are furious that they are not permitted to build new homes for their growing capital city on their own property.

Nadia Matar	Nadia Matar Speaking

Nadia Matar, Women in Green President, gave a spirited speech in which she said "We are going to fight for the entire land of Israel from the smallest hill far away in the mountains all the way to Jerusalem our holy city!" After an all night vigil in Har Homa, Women in Green sponsored truck loads of building materials to be delivered to several new construction sites across the land of Israel to demonstrate their resolve and commitment to the growth of the Jewish state. Nadia Matar says a Jewish homeland that is "given to the Jewish people by God himself."