Wichita ? More than 100 people rallied on a usually quiet corner in Wichita to protest Israeli actions against Palestinians.

“Free Palestine!” “Free Chairman Arafat!” “Sharon is a terrorist!”, protesters yelled on Friday.

Y.R. Shourbaji, a coordinator of the event with the group Concerned Americans in Wichita, said it was demanding an end to Israeli military operations, Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an end to “the siege on Palestinians” and an end to a media blackout that he said was covering up Israeli massacres of Palestinians.

Al Kamash, who led many in the crowd in yelling slogans in Arabic and English, said of the rally in front of City Hall, “We’re doing it in Wichita because the Midwest needs more education” than other parts of the country.

He said he didn’t agree with the violence that Palestinians have inflicted on Israelis, but he said he understood it because the Palestinians “have no room to breathe.”

In response to the rally, the Mid-Kansas Jewish Federation issued a statement Friday urging “supporters of the Palestinian cause to unequivocally condemn the practice of terrorism as a means to achieve their goals and to work to bring a just and peaceful solution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.”

Others who said they supported neither Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon nor Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat also joined the rally.

“Sharon and Arafat, they made it a personal vendetta,” said Baseer Sayeed, who is originally from India. “If these two are gone, there’s no fight left.”

Laura Tillem, who is Jewish, said she marched because she thinks “the occupation is very bad for Jews and Israel because it’s unjust.”