BERKELEY, Calif. – Hundreds of pro-Israel demonstrators calling for an end to global terrorism rallied in a city park here yesterday, as counter demonstrators nearby decried Israeli military tactics in the West Bank and Gaza.

The focal point of the rally was a mangled bus brought from Jerusalem to dramatize the impact of terrorism on civilians. The bus was nearly destroyed in a suicide bomb attack last year that left 11 people dead and 50 wounded. Signs urged passersby to compare the bus to a San Francisco cable car in which they could have been riding.

During the course of the afternoon, there were several tense standoffs between pro-Israel demonstrators and protesters shouting slogans in favor of the Palestinian Arabs. At one point, members of the pro-Palestinian contingent marched toward the center of the pro-Israel rally. Pushing and shoving ensued. Berkeley police, clad in riot gear, intervened to separate the two groups.

Two men involved in a physical altercation were handcuffed by police and taken away from the park. One of the men, Reuven Kahane, was charged with battery, according to a police commander, Lieutenant Wesley Hester. Lieutenant Hester said the other per son was a juvenile and was released without formal charges.

Speakers at the two-hour rally, which was organized by an ad hoc group of Bay Area residents, decried the impact of terrorism on Israel, America, India, and other countries.

“Arab children are being abused and being brainwashed to become suicide bombers,” said Nonie Darwish, an Egyptian-American writer. Ms. Darwish and other speakers said they hoped the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday would encourage a spirit of nonviolence in the Middle East.

“Oh, God, do we need a Martin Luther King in the Arab world,” she said.

Many in the park waved Israeli and American flags, while across the street, about a hundred demonstrators stood silently with photos or silhouettes of Palestinian Arab children killed in Israeli military actions. Nearby, a smaller, louder group of about a dozen Muslim students traded verbal taunts with members of the pro-Israel crowd. Some of the students wore checkered scarves, or keffiyehs, that covered their faces, in the style favored by terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza.

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, the occupation has got to go!” the students shouted. One cried, “Stop the oppressors! Palestine, no. 1 all the way!”

Several vehicles flying Palestinian flags circled the rally, with the drivers honking their horns repeatedly. They were countered by a 45-year-old disabled sheet-metal worker from Oakland, Calif., Daniel Nevis, who sounded a large Ram’s horn, or Shofar.

“The Jewish people around here can’t do that, because it’s not Rosh Hashanah,” Mr. Nevis explained to a reporter. “But I can. I’m a gentile.”

Mr. Nevis said he was taken aback by the anger of the pro-Palestinian students. “If they could kill us, they’d kill us right now,” he said.

The silent vigil against the pro-Israel rally was organized by the Berkeley-based Middle East Children’s Alliance. The group’s executive director, Barbara Lubin, said its aim was to discourage American government funding for Israel.

“We mourn the loss of all the children, whether Jewish, Palestinian, or Christian,” Ms. Lubin said. “The only way for this to stop is for our government to stop funding this occupation.”

Asked why her group chose to feature only Palestinian children in its demonstration, Ms. Lubin said, “It’s the Palestinian children who are invisible.”

Ms. Lubin, who is Jewish, said she objected to the presence of the mangled bus at the pro-Israel rally. “Using that bus as propaganda is shameful,” she said. “There are people inside of Israel, Jewish people, who feel exactly as I do.”

A former chairwoman of the University of California at Berkeley’s Jewish studies committee, Bluma Goldstein, joined Ms. Lubin’s counter protest. She said if the Palestinians were better armed, they would not resort to terrorism.

“There would be no suicide bombings. They would do the same things Israel does,” Ms. Goldstein said. “I want an end to this struggle.”

Ms. Goldstein, who said she lost 34 family members in Nazi concentration camps, said the way to achieve peace in the region is for America to “stop supporting Israel’s state terrorism.”

Several participants in yesterday’s rally complained that Berkeley city officials threw up numerous obstacles to the event and only issued permits for it after the difficulties were publicized.

Asked to describe the city’s reaction, rally organizer Susanne DeWitt said, “Less than enthusiastic – that sums it up.”

A local radio talk show host, Jeff Katz, said that while Berkeley has a reputation as a bastion of free speech, local officials make life difficult for groups that challenge liberal orthodoxy.

“A lot of it has to do with the culture of the city of Berkeley,” Mr. Katz said. “There’s a lot of people at the City Hall that identify a lot more with the people across the street than the people here.”

City officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. They have previously said concerns about security required imposing special restrictions on the anti-terrorism demonstration.

Most organized Jewish groups in the Bay Area declined to join in yesterday’s rally. Some encouraged their followers to stay away, saying that the event could provoke anti-Semitism.

Mr. Katz denounced that approach as cowardly and said it would only lead to more violence.