Actress and activist Jane Fonda visits victims ofsuicide bombers (AND AFAFAT'S HEADQUARTERS)

Ha'aretz ^ | Last update - 19:18 19/12/2002 (Israel time) | By The Associated Press

[Cinnamon Girl]

Actress and activist Jane Fonda visited Israelis wounded in suicide bomb attacks and met with Israeli peace activists on Thursday.

Fonda, 64, is on a weeklong trip to the region and plans to attend meetings of Israeli and Palestinian women organized by a global movement to stop violence against women.

The movement, called V-day, was inspired by the off-Broadway hit "The Vagina Monologues" and its playwright, Eve Ensler, who is also in Israel.

Fonda and Ensler were to speak later Thursday to Jewish and Arab doctors and patients at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital after a performance of selected passages from "Monologues" put on by a group of Israeli women.

Earlier, Fonda, a two-time Oscar winner and fitness guru, visited Israelis recovering from chronic injuries at the hospital's rehabilitation center.

She appeared emotionally moved on meeting Sharon Maman, 23, who suffered brain damage after two suicide bombers blew up simultaneously in downtown Jerusalem on Dec. 1, 2001. The young man, who lay flat on his stomach on a hospital bed, only began speaking again three months ago.

Fonda listened as social workers at the hospital told her that violence against women has increased alongside Israeli-Palestinian battles and a worsening economy that has left many people jobless.

Fonda also met with Israeli activists from the group Peace Now at a Jerusalem restaurant, where a handful of right wing protesters shouted at her that she was betraying Israel by visiting peace activists.

On Saturday, Fonda is to visit the West Bank town of Ramallah to see a physical rehabilitation center, a Palestinian refugee camp and Yasser Arafat's headquarters complex, most of which has been destroyed by Israeli troops.

[Cinnamon Girl]

Just what Israel needs right now: Hanoi Jane and the Vagina Monologues.

[Cincinatus]

Hanoi Jane and the Vagina Monologues

Did she give a monologue?

[wideawake]

Hey, Jane's just a devout, born-again Christian in town to participate in the Vagina Monologues. She's really changed.

[2banana]

Will she visit Baghdad and sit in a AAA gun?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Maybe she and Sean Penn are gathering covert info.

We can always hope.

[Marysecretary]

I think she gave up being born again and just went back to being plain Hanoi Jane. What a doofus.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

[steveegg]

Memo to Jane and Sean: don't forget to turn on those audio and video recording devices before you leave.

[RoughDobermann]

Will she visit Baghdad and sit in a AAA gun?

Probably. One can only hope that she is present when the air defense suppression begins....

[swarthyguy]

Just goes to show age doesn't always imply wisdom.

[cardinal4]

Good Lord, shes done it again.....

[lilylangtree]

What's with Hanoi Jane? She looking to run for political office?

[okiecowgirl]

Fox news showed a crowd of protesters around her.
Nothing on CNN.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

...and try to film something besides your own face.

[Rummyfan]

Yes I'm sure the Israelis feel much better having Jane and selected passges (no pun intended) of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES performed. Do these people - Fonda and Ensler - actually think they are doing some good? Of course Jane has to go to Ramallah. I'm sure we will hear something about the 'cycle of violence', as if the Israelis are equally complicit in the outright murder that is being committed by the Pallies.

[caisson71]

I guess all those (unchallenged by the lamestream media) liberal accolades over the last couple of years has given her continued strength of her convictions, which has never changed.

[pabianice]

The movement, called V-day, was inspired by the off-Broadway hit "The Vagina Monologues" and its playwright, Eve Ensler, who is also in Israel.

Them's Liberals for ya. Naming a peace movement after a sexual oriface.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

I used to work for a Vietnam vet, a successful, well respected local businessman, very articule and "socially concious."

But he used to say point blank if he ever met Hanoi Jane he would kill her on the spot, life sentence be damned.

[Apple_Hills]

CLOSE AND SEAL THE BORDERS BEFORE THEY COME BACK!!!!

[NYC GOP Chick]

a performance of selected passages from "Monologues" put on by a group of Israeli women.

Great. These people are literally being targeted for death every day, so it's only natural that what they need is Hanoi Jane and the Talking Cooters show...