Peace activists have taken half in a protest in Israel’s third-largest metropolis, Haifa, demanding a ceasefire within the struggle on Gaza and the trade of prisoners and prisoners between Hamas and Israel.
“That is the primary time we’ve seen this protest happening within the north,” Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker mentioned from Haifa on Saturday.
“It is a protest with Israeli Jews and Palestinian Israelis, and it is necessary as a result of the 2 come collectively.
“The message right here is to finish the struggle and that they will solely coexist peacefully with a political resolution for the Palestinians,” she mentioned.
Omri Evron, a member of the Communist Celebration of Israel who helped set up the anti-war protest, spoke to Al Jazeera concerning the message the demonstrators hoped to convey.
“The killing of hundreds and hundreds of Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of whom are harmless civilians, will not be solely reprehensible, it doesn’t serve the safety of the individuals of Israel. It won’t convey us safety, it’s going to solely create the following bloodbath, the following cycle of violence,” he mentioned.
“Presently they’re [the protestors] chanting “refuse to kill, refuse to battle, refuse to kill” – that is our name.”
Evron admitted that there have been difficulties in organizing such a protest.
“It has been troublesome not as a result of there aren’t any Jews and Arabs who wish to come collectively and imagine in a typical way forward for peace and equality and nationwide liberation of each individuals in two states,” he defined.
“It has been troublesome as a result of the federal government and particularly the police have finished every part they will to stop us from gathering, to stop us from having a authorized and peaceable voice. We needed to attraction to the Supreme Court docket simply to offer us the chance to come back collectively and display.”
Al Jazeera’s Dekker mentioned the protesters weren’t allowed to march, and officers mentioned the protest couldn’t happen at night time. However finally a number of hundred individuals had been in a position to collect for 2 hours through the day.
