Men dressed in military uniforms,griping cardboard AK-47’s, forced students at pointblank range to the ground, harassingand abusing them infront of students outside the DeAnza College Learning Center.

Saying they were demonstratingthe life of Palestinians in Israel,the Muslim Student Associationsponsored a simulationof a checkpoint last Tuesdayusing volunteers dressed up asIsraeli militants and Palestiniancivilians.

Hanny Zaki, a graduate ofDe Anza who played an Israelisoldier, said although this was asimulation, the troops in Israelare holding real guns at womenand children while deprivingthem of basic human needssuch as water, medical attentionand school.

Zaki said the conflict is like”David and Goliath” and a “minorscale of what Palestinianshave to go through on a dailybasis.”

Hafif Mohebi, a De Anzastudent who played a soldier,said the Israelis receive weaponsfrom the United States, butthe Palestinians receive nothing,forcing them to resort tosuicide bombings.

“Imagine somebody cominginto your house, throwing youinto the closet, and they rapeyour sister and kill your brother,”said Mohebi.

Omer Friedman saw thesame simulation and disagreedwith the accuracy of the event.Friedman served in an airborneinfantry unit with theIsraeli army from 2002-2005,and spent years on the checkpointroad blocks the protestorssimulated.

Although he was not personallyoffended by the demonstration,he said of his time in theIsraeli army, “I did my best torespect human rights.”He said he never used hisgun to force people to theground, as the demonstrationportrayed Israelis as doing.

“That’s like generalizingevery Palestinian as a suicidebomber,” said Friedman. “Theymisrepresented the situation. Ifthey really wanted to promotepeace, they could have done itin a better way.”